(with thanks to Ariel Gomez)

“Justus quidem tu es.” – Gerard Manley Hopkins

Minus one gene,
cells that swing
red or green—

fascia or hormone—
should groan, cease,
dissolve to cell-ghost and bone.

When staying true
would have meant giving death’s due,
instead they became something new.

When faithfulness
to what we knew about what they need
would have meant a fatal bleed,

cells knew better, needed less—
were simple, simply were, and
let themselves have happiness.