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Pieces



I found a place

On the forest floor

Where nobody knows me

I lay myself down

Upon an altar

Of good earth


Hum of bees

Murmuring water

Rustling leaves


 I lie perfectly quiet


Until


My limbs grow roots

That reach

Deep, deep down

Drinking

The center

Of the universe


I climbed to this place

Long before dawn


Clawing

Sliding

Bloody knees

And darkness


And I began to lose

Pieces of me

Chainmail

Cherished shards

Of glass

Luminous scales

Mesmerizing

Collected

Hoarded

Through the years


Twisted, tied with

Bits of twine

And ratchet straps

Of iron will


But

The climb could not bear

The Sisyphean

Weight

Of my armor


Blue and yellow bits

Of expectations

Fell among

The daffodils

And my life’s work

Floated away

All purple

On the ripple

Of a mountain stream

The black directives

Of old men 

In steepled houses

I hurled

From a precipice

As the sun

Began to rise


Grey light of dawn

I am here now

Only my center

Naked

On the earth


All my armor

Broken

Scattered

Gone


I sleep and wake

And sleep again

And find


A sapling

Growing

Straight up

From my heart


Light filters

Through the trees

Iridescent spectrum

Rainbow of

All the pieces

That mattered


Light

Touches my leaves–


Photosynthesis


And I can finally 



Breathe









Phebe Granderson

4/15/2026


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