atlas
by Sarah Lee
atlas;
Constellations inking across your skin,
entire worlds forging on your shoulders,
blue comets trailing in tears down your cheek,
in your eyes they are only infinite pools of
the entire end and beginning of the universe.
atlas;
You are beautiful in the way you give
an axis, an orbit, a fulcrum,
a point of focus, a steadiness
to the beings living restlessly on a world
constantly spinning around its own unstable light.
atlas;
You’re found in dusting shelves, a relic of the past,
curious wanderers eagerly explore your gifts
of every journey, every navigation and
every ocean crossed to live and tell how
you taught them an entire world outside of theirs.
atlas;
You carry with you in your heart
penetrating grief, pervasive anger,
uncontainable joy, everlasting grief-
did you know it is the strength of the few
to bear the weight of many?