we are alive because we won
some cosmic lottery of laws
a battle versus antimatter
everything we know and are

we are alive because we won
the perfect distance from the Sun
where water flows and life may grow
upon, along, above, beyond

we are alive because we won
a litany of love and war
we wonder from atop our tree
where have the other branches gone

between the void and kingdom come
between infinity and none
and of that number
only one

we are alive because we won

like a child who has grown
too old for colouring, i am
a half empty box of crayons
lost in the suffocating folds
of the sofa

i am a carton of stuffed toys
who've had their life
hugged out of them, i am
the dog ears on a yellow
paperback

and i am the friend you forgot
about when the popular kids
came your way and made me
watch you leave

i am a passing storm, i am
a circumstance that people
get all too familiar with
and eventually forget
is there

and i am not ashamed
to be these things. i am
a collection of long lost
memories, all of which
simply just happen to end the same way.

i am not beyond repair
but the knife edges are dull
and the needles hurt more than
they used to

not abused, just used.