Ashes and Dust

Everything in us was dead
Dry and scattered
Empty powder
Formless -- Until
You reached down
Gathered clay together
Breathed in deep
Exhaled living spirit
We breathed You in
And life began
A constant cycle
Your exhale
Our inhale
Utterly unaware of how we were
Completely dependent on You
In Your seeming absence
And we exhaled living spirit for the last time
We attempted breath in a vacuum
Seeking sustenance apart
Our lungs struggled to pull oxygen
From emptiness
Again returned to clay
The rhythm broken
We were dust
To dust we returned
We were ashes
To ashes we returned
Slowly disintegrating
Apart from Your spirit breath