growth poems

I wrote a poem
about you, little
girl.
With your smile
that says leave
me alone.
With your expression
that says I am
over this.
Someday you will
become a woman
and know
the errors
of all these ways.

A single jade leaf can make a new plant,
transforming the soil, light and water
into new roots, stems and leaves.
I’ve seen it so many times before
yet I still marvel at a single leaf,
commonplace, splendid, wise,
only plants grow silently.

I will not
go all the way
around the
world

just to circle
back to the
person I was
doing what
I always did.