Lifecycles

Lifecycles

sunrain
and carbon seed—

floweryou
from stardust and loam
gene and rhizome

and melt me—
winterbeing

frozenman
from snow and alone

wither and regrow
evaporate
and return

i’m as old as all the waters
you as old as all the dirt

we have circled
each other’s seasons

for nine trillion hours

and still have yet to meet.

by Josh Pearce

Josh Pearce has published more than 200 stories, reviews, and poems in a wide variety of magazines, including Analog, Asimov’s, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Bourbon Penn, Cast of Wonders, Clarkesworld, Diabolical Plots, Kaleidotrope, Locus, Strange Horizons, On Spec, Weird Horror, and elsewhere. Find more of his writing at fictionaljosh.com.

Photo by Donald Teel on Unsplash