The Nation of “Me”

With thanks to Bill Bryson for “A Short History of Nearly Everything”,
which may be the best book ever written about what we are and how we got here

There are trillions
of living entities
inside my body
which allow me
to be “me”.

Each human cell
is a citizen
of the great nation
of “me”,
each doing it’s part
to sustain my life.

Each microorganism
which lives inside me
is an immigrant,
some of them
thieves and murderers,
but most of them partners
in the task of keeping me alive.

They go on about their business
without thinking of me,
intent on their own survival.

Sometimes they send me messages,
of wellbeing or pain,
and I do my best to listen.

And when I think of them,
I send them my love,
thanking them for the gift
of being alive
in this body.