Peace Leaves

Have you been to the Brewster Arboretum?

You can't find dragon scales or seashells there, but

they have weeds. Not from the sea, though. Theirs are

home grown, not washed up pom-poms

Covered in pus and puke. You know, the trees told me

peace leaves. if you speak their tongues, they'll tell you

too.

I try my best to carry it, to help it get

to where

it needs to go,

like I did your grandfather's ashes at Bass Hole. The sea

told me to tell you that,

but that was ages ago.

Peace Leaves.

I learned the language of psithuris

to hear this. the trees told me,

That's what they said.

Lying in a hammock at the peak of the hummock,

I heard their susurration. They mocked your

pieces of peace and asked for

your peace of mind,

but don't worry I'll give you a piece of mine. I'll

wait here quiescently, naked and alive,

whispering in wisps in order to survive

Whispering wisps through the trees'

peace leaves

in order to be heard by those who seek me.

I'll carry you.

We'll see everything together, you won't need to scrape

your heels

or keep sea rejections in jars to be baked in

heat, you can hear me when I'm near while I feel your

jasmin skin

with the tips of my fingers and I'll carry you and

tell you about all the places I've been and seen and felt

and dreamed

while you

smile and breathe

in the trees'

peace leaves and you realize

peace can't

leave the mind.