Katrina Kaye

the heat of the day left with the sun
but the earth still hums with warmth 

this is how to ascend
not with fireworks

but with breath

not with certainty

but with hope 

and I 

 (despite the dirt sulked in the creases of bare feet
despite the burn scar that  gently tints my body in ash) 

I am able to exist underneath a sky 
bursting with stars over the tops of tall trees
that sway, a gentle back and forth, 

 these are metaphors of connections never rationalized
a foreshadow of the time I too will give back to the earth 

and I am eager to rebuild 
not with bricks

but with memory

not with mortar

but with mourning 

I am fresh and unsoiled,
comforted in being so close to the earth