***

“We wanted different things.
You and I.
I coveted moments,
In tops of trees,
Limbs that held me in loving embraces.
Limbs that would not twist upward to harm me.

Limbs,
Incapable of anger.
I longed for moments,
In the old kitchen.
Where memories had faded decades,
Before I,
Had appeared.

I would stand in the cold moldy room,
Feeling the presence,
Of better times.
And those times,
Became my times
For a moment.

I longed for the sunshine,
Where the duck pond sat.
I heard that ducks once lived there.
And I loved them.
From the sound of it.

Though I,
Had never met them.
I longed for laughter.
So,
I made you all laugh.
I longed for love.

So,
I loved you all.
Ignoring the horrible bruising,
Of all of your rough edges.
I owned the sunbeams,
Over the fields that lit up a thousand Pines.
We wanted different things.
You and I.

You longed to own the land.
You longed to own the houses.
You longed to own the people.
As if they were dolls.
That you,
Positioned at will.

However,
I have escaped you.
Keeping the Carolina morning in my pockets.
The hidden hovels in my hands.
And the secrets of the ancestors,
Woven into my soul.

We wanted different things.
You,
And I”

  💙 🌿 🌺 🌿 💜