ARBORESCENT III, or ELPIS

Let us rephrase,

For we’ll say it right this time

(& isn’t that what endings are for?):

We do not hope for no reason.

Hope is the reason for itself.

We don’t care for our beloveds

For any specific, singular logic,

But, rather, for the whole of them.

That is to say,

Love is justified by loving.

Like you, we are haunted & human.

You, like us, are haunted & healing.

What we feel to be true

Can only be understood

By what it does to the body.

The same as trees,

We, too, are shaped

By how we twist

Toward all that shoots

Us through with sun.

We truly are growing

Up & out of this hurt

If we’d rather char

Than chain this love.

Our only word for this is

Change.