Sanctuary

Beyond the bitter coffee

and exhausting stream of cars,

reek of motor oil and gasoline, rough

scrape of concrete and metal, rushing

roads, their thrumming heartbeat-

drone roaring—

I enter the forest where calming

grasses stretch to brush against my legs,

where maple and buckeye dance

to the wind’s whistling tune,

where I smell the sap of life

and find childlike dreams of mud pies,

where green covers earth with hints

of violet and yellow and insects speed by

through a vale of leaves and branches,

where silence is more than that—

where it can live

with bird calls and bug buzz

and the whispering of trees,

where footfalls meet deadfalls,

there, there,

is where I long to place my palace,

there within the silence—

where I can breathe.

Creative Writing Class