inside, the soft

Skin seals us in so well that we believe
our souls are separate too: we go to war
in sport and to the death equally knowing
with a certainty as clear as open space
that conflict is our natural state and
friendship an illusion, ephemeral, unnatural.

Skin is good: we need it, but should not
believe it. In the cells in that skin, and
the cells within, is the lesson: each with
a brain, working together for the good of all.
It is our separation that makes us hate
some, and worship others. But we are one.

We speak, we write, we make music and
art and food and religion and love; we listen,
we read, we sing along and appreciate and
believe and love—all those to be one.
Listen, see and love: all this will happen
is clearly as empty space is not a separation.