Stardust

I run my fingers along the bones
of someone I never knew
exploring this person more intimately than anyone
I claim to have known

the sphenoid, wings spread to help cradle a brain
the ilium that may have swayed to music
the calcaneus that bore the weight of countless steps
the trochanters and tubercles where muscles grasped and yanked
this body into fluid, unfathomable motion

less than a centimeter of impermanent flesh
separates my phalanges from the set of carpals I puzzle together
less than a microscopic speck of time
separates me standing in the biology lab from the life extinguished
that gifted these bones to posterity
less than 1% of genetic difference
separates me from the contents of this plastic box
the body of a human like me
that, like me, coalesced from stardust