if you could hold me in
like burning dawn
on the tips of fall mornings
i would scratch our names
into my bark

i would lean over children
that looked like you, baby
sew my leaves to their jackets
so they would always smell
like fresh dew on a misty morning

water my roots and trim
the thorn bushes i've collected
a dress swathing hips
that are barer than deserts

and if i sing this song now
would you come to me in honest
or like schoolyard jokes
will you kiss my fingers only in jest
i'm a simple plant i need only
sunshine and damp dirt

bare bones lapping up nutrients
a stolen kiss over dinner
a bath that is not lonely
a hand to be held
on afternoons in the city
two people staring in rapture at each other
in the black subway windows