A terrible blessing –
to be laid open to the bone,
where the marrow trembles
and sings
with all the griefs,
known and unknown,
mine and yours.
I have wanted a field
where animals could graze,
where I could lay down
in the long grasses.
If this careful work
will be nothing,
if these words will not
fit snugly together like bricks
to form a path, at least
let me have a field,
let me have the bread, the salt.
Adrie Lester writes and works with herbs in western MA. Her work has previously appeared in Peregrine, Albatross, The Essential Herbal, Poetry Breakfast.com, and Ibbetson Street Review. Her poem “In the Liminal” was awarded second place in the Robert P. Colleen Poetry Competition. She studied creative writing at Bennington College and the SC Governor’s School for the Arts & Humanities.