Undiminished

On this day,
as with countless days,
many thousands of bodies
began their exploration
and thousands
of bodies fell,
their purpose fulfilled

We honor those bodies
having walked beside them
for a short time,
each a unique vehicle,
a point of view
that lovingly held our gaze
and reflected the same

We called them by a name
and knew their person
for a short time,
a unique expression of
the one being
that experienced and
celebrated existence with us

Their eyes no longer see
and hands no longer touch
yet they have not gone
as they did not arrive,
their changeful aspect ending,
their unchanging reality shining,
undiminished