what things are scattered? ashes scatter in the ocean and a cloud of gnats in scatter in the garden like my ancestors did across continents in bygone eras my thoughts are scattered as I think about what things are collected shells and stones and bones my love collects, and recipes and photographs of the adventures we've had the felicity of sharing I collect my ruminations and ideas my impressions and conclusions about the future of this pale blue dot amalgamating what is finished with what is yet to come and what may never come fusing the individual and the collective the palpable and metaphysical the known and the unrevealed to form a path, a clearing in a wilderness of terrors, darkness and calamity that leads to the gleaming towers of Amber that most auric of worlds where perennial blooms shall welcome her home [16-VII-2025]