My Favorite Tree

There was a tree that grew in the shade
Not suffering there
Just growing- happy even

Not leaning towards the sunny spot
or towards the safety of the forest

This tree had no plan
Just to grow into a happy old tree
I love this happy tree
as is

But sometimes it's cold
I want the tree to decide
to grow towards the light

so that one day
I can sit in the shade, happy too

About Failure

Every time I go back
I see her

Sunken eyes
as if hope weighed them
so heavily
they started retreating

Stooping now
just enough
her view blocked
by a chain link fence

A nervous woman
always doing, just enough
saying, just enough
never more

Each time she tries to leave with me

Each time she gets a mile closer

She says:
to be more is to be wrong
to want more is to be selfish

If she succeeds
I will be just enough
-never more

Planned, sorta

A small spark
in the primordial soup

grows a little girl
from what people did

not what they should do
regardless

she is a name, well considered
a life, vaguely premeditated

hopefully not a cure
for nomadic ambitions

yes, loved
of course
but a band-aid plan has holes