A Speck Of Dust Poem by Joan Xie

Despite we came from dust
Will return to dust
A speck of dust with nothing left
It still will make all the difference how we smell.
You see that not all of us smell like dust.
Some smell like sunflowers
Burning on the thick stems of green.
Some are as fine as the silky face of a rainy breeze.
Some seep into fissures of the rocks contaminating otherwise perfect pools.
Some are known for their fouls, their permeates.
Not all have the fresh smell of desert roses
Nor can we really smell how the others smell of us.
A speck of dust carries all fundamentals and elementals.
Thus how we are
And wherever we are
Dusting away in this vast universe.

(2019.9.3)