What if the pine trees
standing tall on your favorite trail
tops gently swaying
from the breeze
they are protecting you from
were also there to bear witness to
the tears you quietly let slide into the soil?
If they heard your cries
on those difficult days
and began to sing together
an offering of solace.
Like they did
the time I moved 2000 miles
from home
and felt so alone
longing for all the things I had
left behind.
Or when Jamie died
and only one friend allowed
the world to stop for a moment
so I could scream into the darkness
deep into the horrible void death leaves behind.
Scream my grief
and my terror
now fully aware that one day
it would be my turn.
There was a special rock
on a special trail
where I would sit in silence warming
my face in the sun
while my shoulders sagged
and I longed for a friend to hold me.
I called it my crying rock.
In some of those moments
I felt
an embrace from something that
cannot hug
and I thought it might be the forest
As if the trees above saw my stumbling
And were whispering in my ear.
I couldn’t understand what they
were saying
but I knew on some level
a level not of this universe
that they were offering me
comfort.
©Robin Enright Salcido
