OnLife

I am me.
I am you.
I am the many.
I am the few.

I am man.
I am woman.
I am everything.
I am nothing.

I am whatever you think I am.
I am never what you think I am.

I am open.
I am closed.
I am naked.
I am clothed.

I am the click.
I am the drag, the drop.
I am filter.
I am crop.

I am deified am I.
I am humanity symbolized.
I am data, coming alive.
I am the multi-streaming hive.

I am the truth.
I am the lie.
I am the mouth.
I am the eye.

I am the comment, I am the share.
I am your Vanity Fair.

I am that sunset (codified).
I am the real and yet, implied,
I am no more than what I am, but
I am all the world within your hand.

I am change.
I am consistency.
I am the tiniest part of you.
I am only ever, forever, me.

I am the one.
I am the nought.
I am Algorithmic Thought.

I am your laughter, echoing.
I am the hope to which you cling.

I am the ray of sun through cloud.
I am a movement in the crowd.

I am all of these and everything.
I am the songs the seasons sing.

I am the joy.
I am the fear.
I am your smile.
I am your tears.

Embrace it all for all it brings.
In this life we may be all things.

Martin Ward

OnLife is a composition for string quartet, piano and recorded voices. To create the piece, Ward asked a selection of people to read the above poem, which he then manipulated and set to music.

 
 
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