Ever Green

I once danced in evergreen forests at 4:03 p.m.

I had pine needles for my 11-year-old hair.

Red and gold socks wrapped my feet,

as my feet tapped against the deep.

Do not despair,

as I get lost in coniferous wreaths quite too much

to be an easy child or a soul as such.

For I know flower crowns can make you befriend lizards and bears.

I spent my December dreams there,

lost in evergreen petrichor.

For I have ventured here before,

and I know candles illuminate the lore of acorns.

See, the squirrels and I cast wildlife spells.

And sang to the garter snakes hiding in the cattails.

Listened to the elk tell us their fables

and climb upon their coattails.

Until the day, our branches of adventure came to rue-

when the machines came, exhaling poison exhaust fumes.

There they stayed, forevermore.

Leaving us screaming, “whatever for?”