Eternity

Science finally proved the Soul—

Our research team found one

Invisible to our eyes,

But

Microscopically alive

We found it there

— trapped—

In a

Dead man’s withered husk,

Deep inside

His derelict body

We found it there

With our spectrophotometry

And our scans

We charted a little slice of his remains,

A region

A meager portion

Odd and opaque

Absorbing more light than it should

Like a tiny, weak black hole

We found it there

Deeper than his

Leather

Deeper than his

Jerky

And deeper than the

Gritty, rotted, gunk in his veins

Deeper even

Than his cracked tendons and his delicate bones

We found it there,

In the center

Of a cross section

Of his shriveled body

Yes, we found his soul

Coiled and lingering,

Curled in on itself

Like a decrepit old heir, huddling in the lower rooms of a crumbling estate

Like a snail with its operculum drawn in tight

The man’s soul,

Shuttered

Against the corruption

Of the man’s body’s

Against the Dry Rot

And against the cloying dusts

Against the ravages of time

Of deterioration

And of decay

But even so coiled,

Even so drawn in

Even so shuttered

Our study showed the soul

Could still know!

We report with confidence

Because we saw it tremble

And we saw it wince and rattle and moan

With every

Fresh cut

Of our saws and our drills

Through

The dead man’s ancient corpse

*

But science must never be content

What would we be without restless curiosity?

Future studies will aim

To experiment on the living

Vivisection

To lay bare

The real human soul

In the hopes that we might see what shape it takes

Before it retreats

Into

Its

Shell

***

***

Author’s note:

I know this sketch is not the greatest, but I’m making a deliberate effort to create some of my own visuals in protest of the ai generated images which permeate so much online writing content.

I’m not saying anyone else should feel bad about using ai art, but it’s absolutely not for me.

So if unsplash doesn’t have what I’m looking for, I’ll keep using my own beginner level photography and art rather than promoting ai for what I want.

It’s more fun and it’s good practice. Anyway, I want to get better so if anyone has feedback I’m all ears :)