Soften

Author’s photo

Today I will drink tea until
I am at least sixty percent chamomile—
small white flowers blooming from brow bones,
tension dissolving down my spine.

I wrote these lines on a chilly November morning while grappling with challenges at an old job. Whether or not I drank any tea that day, writing softness into being can sometimes make it so.

Today is much warmer, with many more flowers in bloom. May our thoughts, hearts, and spirits join them.