Shells

What are we but bits of light;
shells of carbon gifted sight?
Cast upon a rocky world
Living for a blink in time

And when we perish as we must,
everything we leave is dust
Shells, like mollusks’ cast off husks
Left on hills like cars to rust

We who build our cities high;
stand on towers, boldly fly;
break like corals in the sea -
float like petals on the breeze

Stones that mark our timely graves
fall from mind and melt away
Swept from grace by future minds,
cusps upon the shell of time