When in the throes

of too early morning,

sky flamboyant in darkness,

stars about its forehead

turning it dizzy

with its own greatness,

its own vast reach,

it comes to me

in a thin, tepid current,

how we are billions

just like ourselves,

each with a story to live,

each with life worth telling.

And suddenly I am shaking,

lost in enormity,

alone in negative space,

mammoth perspective

and numbers too high to count.

Here we everyone be,

sleeping or intrusively awakened,

lights on in the bedroom

or no bedroom at all,

city dweller, villager,

or solitary traveler,

each beneath thumbs

of the universe,

casual in everything it offers,

utter randomness

of good day or bad,

celebration or abrupt tragedy,

besot with meaning

or merely one more breath

exhaled in invisible air.

Together we stand in the pitch,

eyes toward the same

supposed heaven,

dubious in our own existence.

Here we are stuck, together,

energy captured in questions.

Body after corporeal body.

Always seeking another sunrise.

Katherine Gotthardt, M.Ed., was winner of the 2021 PW Perspective and Business Crossing Network DMV Best Business award in the category of Author. A creative advocate, she has been writing, editing and teaching for more than 20 years and marketing professionally for more than 15. With 11 books to her name, one an Amazon bestselling new release and another a Nonfiction Writers Association Silver Award winner, she pens poetry, children’s books and prose from her home in Prince William County. In her day job, she serves as a writer for government contracting firm. She uses proceeds from book sales to benefit community give-back initiatives and can often be found volunteering and supporting the community in her spare time. Learn more at www.katherinegotthardt.com.