I Would Like..... by Andie Phillips

I would like to delve into the wet leaves,

feel their wetness,

slippery rounded oak leaves,

immerse my senses in the smell,

musty and sharp.

I would like to enter the wave as it rolls and crashes,

salty stinging,

stopped breath,

flashing foam bubbling.

I would like to crawl into the earth,

crumbling mulch,

meeting worms, centipedes,

becoming tiny into their world of rocks

boulders, broken twigs, melting damp leaves.

I would like to climb that tree and sit there,

for hours,

watching the fields,

birds flying, feeding,

cloud shapes passing,

just watching,

letting it happen around me.

But I know what I am. Worried.

Shoulders hunched subconsciously

against the tasks I have to perform.

So much to do;

so many people to please.

I have built this hectic lifestyle

to avoid indifference and emptiness;

to avoid invisibility and loneliness.

I would like to roll in the meadow,

feel the tangle of stems on my sides,

inhale the crushed fragrances,

feel the earth.