Reach Out with a Spiral Arm

It is when you smile that I am most able
to remember your true origin, where it is

you've come from: we're made from star-
dust, atoms swirl within us, each a minute

solar system with electrons in its planetary
orbits. You are a galaxy. You are complete.

There are spaces in you that I cannot see,
black holes, parts of you that once burned

bright but have decayed and swallow up any
light that comes their way. But they are not

the sum of you, they are only parts. And,
inside you, other stars are yet being born.