Conscious

 
Collections of matter  
-- atoms of stardust and dinosaur shit --  
that for some obscure reason  
(or no reason at all)
have the ability to experience  
their own existence.  
That's all we are, really.  
Maybe this sentience  
is imbued upon us  
by some Ultimate Sentience  
that just wants to  
not  
be  
alone.  
 
Or, maybe it's random physics.  
Maybe it just IS.  
Does it matter,
this immaterial insight?  
 
Either way, we only get to operate  
this meat suit  
for a miniscule blink of time  
(don't get me started musing about time)  
before it all disintegrates  
and floats off to become  
some other Thing.  
 
What shall I experience,  
while I have the chance?  
Some events I can choose;  
others are happenstance,  
and I can only decide whether to embrace them.  
 
Currently,  
I'm experiencing something called "gladness"  
because the flicker of consciousness  
that is  
Me  
in the vast expanse of space and time,  
has overlapped with the glimmer  
that is  
You.  
 
Perhaps the significance of that fact  
is only what we make it.  
But I like to imagine that  
the Big Sentience  
is smiling to itself,  
for we are  
experiencing  
one another  
and we are  
not  
alone.