Once this brain
could start a fire
that would warm anyone right up.
It once glowed all over, glowed more
than could be explained
solely through neurochemistry.
I didn’t understand it;
this was just how it was.

Now, this brain
commonly stays dark in its egg,
cradled in bone, a cold jelly.
When it now and then sparks
it ignites just enough
with which to get by.
I don’t understand it;
that is just how it is.

I am this brain
most of the time now.
I wasn’t always. I once lived
somewhere else and the brain
was the place I came to play
and I knew it was not all I was
and was not enough.
I still don’t understand it
but this is how it was.

Cold, dim, and lonely
in this brain. I want
to break out and live instead
among my other organs,
ease my thinking into feeling,
grow warm again seeking the light
I once saw shining from above.
I don’t understand how that can be,
but this is how it is.