I need a function
To be the stem of “functional”
To be the stem of me
So that I may be functional

I need a mother
To love me the way she did
Before the cord was cut
--the root linking her to me
So that I may be a daughter

I need a lover
To keep life burning through me
Be my photosynthesis
So that I may breathe

I need a friend
To pull me from the ground
From beneath the poplar tree
For I was too ripe
For this rope to hold me
And I am too strange
For this ground to love me