Quintessence of Dust

By Nolo Segundo

(With a nod to the Bard)

We are the moving dust,

we are the breathing dust,

we are the seeing dust,

we are the living dust.

But how, you ask, and rightly

so, can dust fall asleep,

dreaming of places unknown

and lovers unmet—how can

dust imagine whole worlds

and love with one heart for

60 winters and 60 summers?

And do the notes that stir life

come also from dust, just a

little dust, and nothing more?

When the music is played

and dust dances with dust,

and dust laughs with dust,

and soon dust loves dust,

can dust ever understand

the paradox of its own

being, from dust to dust?

Not until the winds comes,

the warm winds of Eternity,

will dust be blown away,

leaving the unseen soul

alive, to walk and breathe

and dance and love, bathed

forever in the dustless Light.

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Nolo Segundo only became widely published in his mid-70's, with publications in over 130 literary journals in eleven countries, as well as three trade book poetry collections: The Enormity of Existence (2020), Of Ether and Earth (2021), and Soul Songs (2022).