Wisdom

Katrina Kaye

Trees survive the winter with
faith that spring will come.
There is security in the knowledge
of seasons and cycles;

a time to bloom and a time to shed.

Trees survive because they know forgiveness.
They have the patience to allow time
to heal wounds and repair intentions.
The trees know better than to assume a little chill
in the air is the end of everything.

I, too, know better.
That doesn’t mean I don’t, on occasion,
hang on to summer leaves which should have
fallen in October.

What is wisdom other than knowing when
to let go? What is wisdom other than knowing
there is no permanence? There is only

process,           change,           and cycle.

The wise, like any good tree, welcome change.
They release their leaves knowing
it is the only way to prepare for the bloom of spring.

Empire

Katrina Kaye

we wear out so quickly.
the calendar outlast our best intentions,

and we allow our lives to be at the
mercy of those larger than us,
those so large they did not know we exist.

it seems like something got lost, doesn’t it?
it seems like in our rush to build an empire
we never bothered to secure the foundation and

the cracks

are spreading

faster and faster.

Becoming

Katrina Kaye

My aging face has changed more
than anticipated. I never expected
to not recognize myself in the mirror,

nor did I realize the footprint of every
thing I have ever done would fester
inside me and bloom on skin.

Is this what it means to become?

Perhaps this is the moment when
my rough fabric becomes fur.
Perhaps now,

(with the wrinkles and dark spots,
the daily bubble and sulk,
burn holes and scratches,
the swell of chin and lump of nose)

I am real.

Maybe to be real is to be a bit broken,

a bit aged,

a bit unrecognizable.