Oxygen

When you take your first full breath,

It’s sweet like the first rays of sun at dawn

Then you breathe your last in death

Just one more second, and then you’re gone

It ignites the first flame of the dry season 

Purifying this earth with divine violence

We cleanse in fire for a reason 

It leaves everything in barren silence

We first gathered around the warm glow,

Telling stories about how we got here

Since then, we’ve expanded on what we know

Now astronauts explore with shuttles in the atmosphere

When the air fills your lungs, think of your mother 

For oxygen is an element like no other