Yay Earth!

[cosmic_celery]

A letter to my childhood backyard on the occasion of earth day, 2008

do you remember that morning?

i padded outside, to visit you.
the air was sharp; the day
not yet day, not yet
light enough to burn away
the dew from the grass.

and all around me was you.
no god, just you.
no god but the dew on my feet,
the subtle retreat of the fog
as it ambled back
among the pine trees that were
also you.

for a moment
i thought i might become something wild,

atoms
separated, lost
to your overwhelming atmosphere.

for a moment
i thought, maybe the hummingbirds
(so many of them were out that morning!)
might take me as their child,
might teach me to
fly backwards.

do you remember it
like i do?

perhaps you only remember
that i got cold

and returned indoors
to track mud on the carpet.