Departure

Across a deep blue ocean,

a never ending sky,

my feet are planted

in the dry dirt where I'll

begin my journey.

Tonight, one billion stars

watch me watch them.

Careful not to share too

many secrets,

I whisper "that'll do"

and go to bed.

Beside my table,

a blossoming

red rose with

thorns too small to

pierce skin

grows slowly

as the days become nights

become days...

I've never been stuck anywhere long enough

to notice clay turn

to leather.

I never knew what

it felt like to leave

something behind me

and want to look back.

Cycles have revealed more

to me than abrupt halts

to catchy ephemeral rhythms.

Like a butterfly in a jar,

for the first time

I felt that flying

could only take me

so far.