It Should Be Green
As I stand by the side of the road, which is as close as I can get right now, I look out at the woods I know so well. I spent my childhood in those woods – exploring, hiking, climbing. Those trees, the rocky dirt trails hidden under their branches, the stream that runs through them – they hold so many memories.
Somewhere under those trees is the spot where I fell in love for the first time. I can remember staring up at the stars as he timidly reached out and took my hand in his. I was so nervous that I couldn’t stop giggling.
I caught my first fish on the lake just a mile down the road. I was seven years old. I can remember standing on the lake's shore with my dad’s hands on mine, pulling my pole back and letting it fly. I can still feel the excitement at the first tug and my delight as I posed for a picture, my proud dad all smiles behind the camera.
My first real injury happened there too. I broke my ankle when I tripped on a rock. I remember tears streaming down my cheeks as I was carried down the trail.
I almost lived there once. After a fight with my mom, I packed my backpack with snacks and a change of clothes, grabbed my jacket, and left the civilized world behind. As the sun set, I thought I had found the perfect life – nothing but the stars above me, the ground beneath me, and the clean, open air around me. I went home six hours later, soaking wet from the rain.
I know those woods better than I know my own family, my own house. They have been my home when I felt like I didn’t have one. Those trees were alive long before I was born, and I always believed they would long outlive me.
But now, as I stare at that familiar tree line, only one thought crosses my mind.
It should be green.
Not red-hot with orange flames engulfing everything in their path and thick, black smoke rising into the air, blocking out the sun and the blue sky.
It should be green.
Green
Your eyes knew my heart as intimately as that mouth of yours.
Green. Your shade of green was a revelation to me. When I walked into the forest, the moss beneath my feet seemed to hum with the knowledge that beauty always comes with heartbreak.
If "you", the one reading this, were to ask, "How do you know?"
My only answer would be to ask the one with the green eyes, the one who held my heart only to give it back to me.
The one who I can no longer look at moss without weeping.
I tread not on soft ground where your body was a bed I found solace in.
Now I walk on stones, bloodied, and desperate to forget your shade of green.
The only green I ever see now.
My heart bleeds a melancholy green for you still
but
you are nowhere near to see it.
The Other Side…
Cacophony precedes each dreadful day
These shattered souls stay shackled and dismissed;
Despair then beckons her down the abyss
Disdain takes over, leading her astray.
While wary of the endless misery
That shall persist lest she abandons ease,
The yearning for belonging never leaves
But neither does the struggle to be free.
Alone, she trudges to the foreign scene,
Where lively chatter muffles every thought
And broken cobbles prick her trembling feet.
The gentle touch of rain much unforeseen
Reminds her nowhere could be that distraught;
Return would render her worth obsolete.
Green grass- flowering leaves.
Green is a color of life. Green- the color of the light over the shore, signifying a man's lover. Green- the color of the plants that breathe us life. Our lungs breathe in the green.
Green is a color of positive things. Green- like many of the vegetables we are told we must eat to grow strong. Getting the Green light. Going Green. Having a Green thumb. The good are always green- the bad something else.
Green is a color of jealousy. Being a Green eyed monster.
Green is abundance, but is jealousy, Green is new beginnings, but also lacking experience, Green is tranquility, but it is feeling sick.
The grass is always greener on the other side- always showing what is wanted but can't be had.
Green is many things, many contradictions
But green to me, will always be the color of life.
Green
I wasn't supposed to be
thirty-one, rocking
back and forth, sucking
on the ice cubes in my
Sauvignon Blanc
dreaming of a day
when it would be
sunny, and not raining
pouring, actually,
so I'm drowning
while standing straight up
they say, at least the rain
brings green, and growth
but I'd rather take a
stab wound to where it hurts
than live another rainy day
hoping for a future
I'm promised, but am not living yet,
a futile reassurance
a washed out shade of grey
Peppermint ice-cream
It's my eyes filled with envy
Shoots of asparagus, canopies and tree-tops
Granny Smith apples
Tart and pleasingly crunchy
The skin of a melon
The flesh of a kiwi
The heart of white wine
A sparkling emerald
My face before I puke
Peppermint ice-cream
Heads of broccoli
Go! blinks the traffic light
Australia at the Olympics
Naivety or inexperience
Tree creatures: frogs, snakes, cicadas
A symmetrical four leaf clover
Fresh from the garden
Spinach, rocket, lettuce
A medley of herbs as well
Basil, parsley, coriander
It can be monstrous too
Look! It's Shrek and the Grinch
Corporations can chase it
For some favourable PR
A split pod of peas
Aloe for my sunburn
A promise of spring
Ever-y tree that keeps it's leaves
It's a thumb in a garden
That makes the plants grow
It's that grass on the other side
That's always better than where I am
It's bathing in nature
A pleasing vista
An abundance in nature
The opposite of drought
A world without it
Is all jagged edges
It's sandy and dusty
Dry and harsh
Unseen
Last night our dancing went unseen
amidst this forest made of green.
We laughed and muddied up our feet.
Each wildling moment bright and sweet.
The insects too, were gathered there,
both on the ground and in the air,
and all the creatures of the night
proclaimed their ballads of delight.
Our lady moon she too came down,
each verdant branch her hair unbound.
And where her laughter echoed near
was said all sorrow disappeared.
And when at last time came for dawn,
each wildling heart discreetly gone,
only silence knew what came unseen
unto this forest made of green.
