we came from dust

not every life is well kept by the world

the world prefers its records simple
a name on stone
a line in a book
a building somebody can point to and say
that was theirs

but some lives find purpose in the dust
they are spent in motion
in service
not standing back from life
but taking hold of it
and making room for more of it

for music
for stories
for history
for laughter
for one more chair at the table
for One more child to gather in
for one more broken thing
to be made useful and beautiful again

such a life is easy for the world to underestimate
it leaves no spectacle behind
no proper accounting
no guarantee that memory will do its duty

snowflakes melt
memory follows
but a life like that
melts snow
like a Ray of light
making room
for more life

some lives leave more life behind

they are not made smaller
because they were not properly praised
they are not emptied of meaning
because the world forgets the name

meaning was never the plaque
never the credit

Meaning is to spend a life on what matters
without needing witness
to leave warmth where one stands
to answer need with energy
to make beauty practical
to be for others
a kind of Ray

that kind of life does not disappear
just because memory fails

it remains in the people it shaped
in the good it set in motion
in the reflection it leaves for the rest of us

and in remembering such a life
something in us wants to be more than memory
something in us wants meaning too

what are we making room for
what are we giving
what are we building
what for this brief moment
will be more alive
while we are here
because We are here.