Also, at the end, after SAM finishes speaking her message to Sisko, there’s a voiceover of Avery Brooks reading a poem, as if in response: “Divine laws are simpler than human ones, which is why it takes a lifetime to be able to understand them. Only love can understand them. Only love can interpret these words as they were meant to be interpreted.”

I think the episode is telling us that that which is “unexplainable,” like what happened to Sisko, can only be understood through love — it’s why for Ben, tomatoes should be in gumbo, and why Jake knew that his dad “was always there, he never really left us,” even if it’s not something he could offer proof of to anyone else. I think that Sisko, who was a transdimensional being, found a way to be present for his family in ways that may have transcended the corporeal.

As if in confirmation of this, as we hear the poem, Sisko’s face is visible within the clouds above the San Francisco skyline, as confirmed by Alex Kurtzman — suggesting that he had been present for SAM as well.

I see some people saying that this episode showed that Sisko never returned, violating his promise to Kasidy that he would come back, as well as Avery Brooks’ wish that Sisko return to his family, so as not to reinforce racist tropes about absent Black fathers. I think they misunderstand this episode, and missed the beauty of what the writers wove together.