Dolly the Sheep

Which one is the flesh?
Double-image; bottled man
sprouting in glass tube full of
fluid and gas and hair follicles

Basic skeletal formation:
stem cell growing tissue and lung
and neurons. Birth is as easy
as creating a bag of chemicals.

He sits before them
almost-twins.
One is shapeless and gnarled
Holding onto Death’s sleeve

The other;
Brand spanking new,
All teeth in neat rows
Personality tangled in the grip of fingers

“I want more than
anything to live forever
and be remembered as
the man I was, not the man I am now”

("I love you and I love you and I love you
I love you whole, I love you sick,
I love you diseased, I love you rich
And though this new man has
Your memories I
Did not travel with him I
Did not laugh with him I
Did not cry with him I
Don’t know him at all, this
Other conscious being.")