I AM

In the ocean of infinite emptiness,
before the birth of time,
a singular being was born
calling itself I Am.

Seeing that it was alone in the emptiness,
a universe of one,
I Am grew lonely,

And in its desire for companionship,
swelled and split in two,
becoming We Are.

Though they now had each other in the emptiness,
We Are were no longer whole,
and the void around them seeped inside,
filling their empty spaces.

Then they were just as lonely as when
We Are was I Am,
and so they swelled and split again,
this time into four,
and sixteen and so on,
each time yearning for satiety,
but with every division each was less whole than before,
and the emptiness continued to fill the cavities left behind.

Soon there was so much of the surrounding void in every I Am
it became impossible to distinguish them from it,
until what few fragments were left of their
I Amness dissolved away,
taking with it time,
before a singular being was born
calling itself I Am.

* * *
Originally published in Star*Line 35.1 (Jan-March 2012; Marge Simon editor)
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