inspired by reports of recycling of steel debris to Asia

I was born a landlubber,
content to crawl in dirt
and manipulate shiny objects.
I died a non-flying bird at
a height of one thousand feet,
consumed by a jealous deity
in a roaring Molotov cocktail
mixed by a deviant mortal
and hurled by a devout hand.

I am the sediment in a tidepool
of wreckage stained with boiled blood.
I am trodden upon by living things
which scurry in search of like life
and trudge off, having found none.

I am a memory of flesh.
I am become charcoal,
An impurity in steel,
Rare enough to be allowed
to flow in a molten rivulet
into a mold where I'm recast
as a shiny new thing.

I am the tiniest sliver
of a supertanker,
plowing the salty seas,
protected with a coat of sealant,
armed with a warranty and a promise
of fifty years of useful life,
hauling the memories of great carnivores
previously consumed by a jealous deity,
flambed in a repast of cosmic note,
whose ashes are now hauled again,
compressed by pistons and set aflame
to propel living things to and fro.

Some of these living things
are brethren of the instrument
of my transmutation.
I am beyond retribution.

I am an impurity.
I make metal stronger.
Who am I to question my purpose?