How It Feels

a poem

Photo by Eric Prouzet on Unsplash

How It Feels

Regret
Like brittle brown leaves
Clinging to oak branches
In early March
 
Shame
Like heaps of sticks and litter
Clogging storm drains
After a downpour

Grief
Like patches of Lichen
Embedded into the bark
Of vulnerable trunks and branches

Memory 
Like the smell of dirt
Stuck to hiking boots
On a trail through childhood

Hope
Like sunlight flooding
Through adjoining storm clouds 
Before they break
 
Love
Like birdsong at dawn
Like the endless expanse of stars 
Like the steady current of a river
 
Faith
Like scattering seeds
Over freshly tilled soil 
Waiting, waiting, waiting