Elements

Atoms, elements, and compounds; this is the stuff we are made of,
The lifeforce Lego
That sticks together and rearranges in all manner of ways.
We are literal stardust;
The skin that sheds from our bodies is comprised of the same stuff
That makes up those twinkling points in the sky—
That we now know are dead to us,
And we see them only through the miracle of light.
Can you imagine an element, out there in the cosmos, minding its own,
Then becoming part of a gas cloud on Venus, or a whirl of dust on Mars...