Inextricable

You know how it's impossible to slip out of the world without hurting those around you

Because our heartbeats and sinews are intertwined

Not just near each other

But part of each other?

And that means it hurts - it hurts so much - to lose a loved one, a dear one

Even just adjacent ones.

But it also means

We have purpose: staying:

Not wounding our loved ones,

Letting life flow through us-

Heart to vein to cell we are not

Isolated, we are not

Extricable.

We cannot step sideways into the sweet hereafter 

Without a tearing

We are flesh and blood

(Not only to our flesh and blood)

Our leaving 

Creates a wound

Our staying 

Prevents.

There is purpose in it, even when it feels empty.

There is value in it, even when a broken heart lies.

There is goodness in it, and love, and kindness

Just in staying

Just in not leaving

Just in existing

To prevent the wound.

Bone and flesh

We are each others'

Inextricably.

Stay.