UnEarth Magazine.

_{Writing by Ru Todd – Art by Reese Abromavage}

Autumn arrived on a quiet breath, 

amber leaves murmuring in its wake  

Its chill fingertips traced  

the hairs on her bare arms  

She folded them 

a t-shirt no match for the season’s touch 

The clouds won out, and she ducked into a coffeeshop 

Pulling out her journal,  

pen began to whisper against paper 

a man lumbered in 

Grey hair framed his heavy eyes, 

Pulled down by gravity and something else  

He asked if he could take a seat across from her 

She nodded, offering a small smile 

What do you write? 

She responded: My thoughts, it brings me peace  

He studied her, gaze lined with knowing 

What do you need peace from? 

She exhaled: 

Everything, these days  

He nodded; eyes aged with firm lines of wisdom 

Then he began: 

I recall when joy was effortless– 

the touch of sunshine through parted clouds  

a sudden rainstorm twirling lovers through the streets 

but now–  

I grow a flower 

only to watch it be plucked and tossed aside  

I paint a rainbow, 

only for it to be swallowed  

by the grey fumes of an oil plant  

I raise a cathedral of green 

belting with life  

until the machines crescendo 

leaving nothing in their silence 

but stumps  

And a memory of what was. 

He sighed, 

Sometimes I wonder  

If I let the sun shine a little longer  

If I held back the rain just a bit more 

If I could make the water clearer  

And the air a little warmer– 

Would that be enough? 

This, I think, is what I would write about 

If I had paper, or a pen,  

or even hands to write with 

But I have no voice  

only the soil I sow  

and the flowers I grow 

At least, until my forests turn to deserts  

my rivers to dust  

my blue skies to grey 

Then, maybe you’ll wonder– 

What if I had cherished it all, 

Just a little more?  

He rose, a slight falter in his step, 

The weight of unseen roots tethering him down 

She watched,  

A thought lingering in the space between them 

A moment later, she followed 

Stepping outside she caught sight of a daisy, 

A lone bloom rising from a crack in the concrete 

She bent down 

Breathed in its quiet scent  

For once, she did not pluck it, 

Did not tuck it behind her ear for a photo 

She simply smiled  

and walked away