I just want to be loved.
found beautiful even when I hold no beauty.
caressed during my darkest days.
told everything will turn out okay.
because I just want to be loved.

“every one shall sit in safety un­der his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.”*

Letter from George Washington, 1790, to the Jewish community of Newport, Rhode Island


  <•>

multiple motifs present poesy alternatives,
but one supremes

safety in your own chosen orchard,
supping on clear water, wine and figs
children of trees, nurtured by one’s own hands,
children of your children, running the grove,
shouting out in sweet safety

the wasps happy shameless pollinate,
dreaming of more generations,
ruefully smiling, thinking of
Adam and Eve, who ashamed of
their apple’d sexuality,
hid their nakedness of course beneath
the safety of
fig leaves

you do not pray for safety
you do not ask for anything,
nothing to fear says the father,
for you already live in our own
George’s garden of eden

A H G T K I M S O ******* I N G S A D K J G R Q S A J
O Y T A S K J S H E L P M E H T G Y I A D G K S A J D K
J I A M D O N E L I V I N G K J S A G H K H G F B M O
P J E A K E T R W Q H A K S J B O Y I A M S T U C K A
F T A H C N F D O C O N F U S I O N W H E M A L P K
S F E K J R W A S O T I R E D K J A K E L P C X N Z W M
H T E Y P A D H E L P M E H A S H T P L E A S E Y U T

Y O U L L N E V E R U N D E R S T A N D M E

I will spread dirt into every crevice of my broken heart and plant flowers so big and beautiful, that their roots will mend all the shattered pieces back together, and you’ll never be able to see the mess I used to be.

when maturity
is learning how not to hate
someone who's wronged you