Between my fingers, I grasp a rose
with petals of diamond and leaves of emerald.
Fragile as glass and strong as stone,
Its beauty stands alone.

I hold it tightly and my fingers bleed,
dotting the ground with ruby seeds.
Perhaps they'll sprout and begin life anew
but they will be imperfect and crude,
Compared to the perfection that is in my hand
A diamond in the rough
A speck of stardust among a billion grains of sand.

Waves speak
to the shore
in rippled verse
scattered shell
strands of kelp

in the sand
each visitor
inscribes a story
sandpiper, wigeon, crow
raccoon, otter, coyote

I read each one
as I write my own

Never ******* about the lack of sunshine in the sky
never changed the way i walk to keep my sneakers dry
Often tried to change the lesser aspects of my self
failing miserably then straight secluding using stealth

Dreaming of a place where only i alone exist
running from the monkeys on my back i should resist
Eating quite abundantly until i cannot walk
screaming at the trees until i find i cannot talk

i can still smell
the fertile soil
beneath my nails.

breathe deep.

inhale the heavy crush
of nature, fragrant
and somber on a frigid
Florida morning.

pulling past-due produce
from the earth
only to cut it up
and return the harvest
once more to the ground
as compost.

i nicked my finger
on a pair of scissors
dicing mustard greens.
i laughed. i’d never
noticed just how red
blood was. today,
juxtaposed
with the Planet’s brown flesh,
i marveled at my own fragility.

for the first time
in what feels like forever
i didn’t ruin
what i touched.

days fly by quickly
like leaves in the wind
but let's not worry—
together we can watch them drift away
time promises of more beautiful days
and by your side i will stay.

I walk though the green ambiance soft under foot.
Patches of dirt where grass hasn't yet took,
varieties of shade leach blade never the same.

Under my feet the sound of rustling as my being
here is remembered as each footstep leaves.
wet dew is sewn on to the tips lingering like diamonds.

As I look back and see my traversing from there to
here, I see my footsteps like fingerprints showing
evidence of my transgressions through morning grass.

My walk nearing its inevitable end, I breath in the
freshness that sinks into my lungs. invigorated by
the surroundings I walk home across the carpet of green.