Sitting under the magnolia tree in late summer
The sky is a luminous crackle of varnish on an ancient vase.
I am staring up, staring through a creature’s veins,
innumerable shades of verdant gold
sap rushing into and out of cells,
botanical respiration humming
on just the other side
of sight and sound.
The tree says nothing
and I say nothing.
I only try to notice
this gone-again moment
from the grassy shore
the sands
of here
the ebbing
flow of
now.