Poem of the Week–Smart

As I Live and Breathe

I ran away
and grief gurgles in my throat
like burning leaves.
I could not cleave to the stiffening silence.
I could not suffer the long silences.
I tried a whetstone to leaven the dull pain.
What could I do?
What would I ever do?
I befriended a patch of Shasta
Daisies I met along my ways,
their faces radiant and clear;
though the cancer worm eyed them all
throughout the dampness of the night.
They felt the sun,
as I fled its shadow.

I set a burning light on dry, cold leaves.
I couldn’t stomach the deadening hours.
Call me a coward.
I couldn’t face their yellow radiance as
The happy pedals
dropped one by one,

go
down, down
down,
void in the silence.

Ariel Smart
Stockton-Lodi Branch, CA

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