Today, I am grateful
for russet leaves nestled in mud,
softening the cold grey
of daily morning runs,
conjuring memories and mockeries
of leaves rusty with red dust,
outstretched in heat
in the place I left you.
Today, I am grateful
for thick deep green holly,
unpruned by secateurs,
full of blood-red berries and red-breasted robins;
for visions of weeds left to grow
by roadsides and schools,
unsliced by cutlasses,
full of kissing…
