Essence

What are you — above all else?
Perhaps a name, etched in time
Syllables that define your essence
Or merely a label, assigned by chance?

A job, perhaps — your daily pursuit
Shaping metal, healing wounds, or crafting words
But does your work define you
Or simply sustain your journey?

A passion — a fire that burns within
For art, for justice, for discovery
The driving force that wakes you
When the world is still asleep

You are all of these, of course, yet none alone
A wholecloth of roles and dreams
Each thread essential, yet incomplete
In the grand design of being

First and foremost, you are human, and here
Complex, contradictory, ever-changing
A blend of the mundane and the extraordinary
Forever becoming, forever ufinished