When You Hug A Tree

say to it: I release you

from all expectations

and artfully constructed

notions swirling around

in my head.

You are free

from the weight

of what's within me

waiting to be healed.

I’ve called off my search

for secret meanings

hiding somewhere

inside your leaves.

Be who you are.

Be what you are.

Be how you are.

You and I aren’t indestructible,

but we’re not all that fragile either.

And we’re both beautifully scarred

with the signature of a world

full of grace and danger

written on our thin membrane

boundary of bark and skin.

We’re alive, which means 

being honed by the wind

and leaned by the storms

that make us

who we are,

what we are,

how we are.

It really is that mystical and simple.