155. I Needed To Leave (Myshkin, 2021) · free verse

I needed to leave The desert I needed to be surprised Last night By a murmuring brook, This pre-dawn By shades of sunrise Stubborn camera shutters Refuse to capture. I needed to leave So I could be cold again at night So I could feel the joyful discomfort Of being alone. New friends I love too much, Now far away, For a little while. I needed to leave To be kissed by hot springs again, To dance with dense forest And cold grey stone, To ask my destiny what it wants To miss what preciousness I was starting to grasp. I needed to leave Not to arrive, But to experience this journey. Engine vibrating under my feet, Gears shifting smoothly Around a curvy canyon highway, Flowing in and out of roadside stops. I needed to leave So I could come back, Welcomed with open arms, Seeds of relationship, (With humans, With places, With wildlife and pets) Already breaking ground. I needed to leave To surrender more deeply, To experience From a different point of view, This one gift, One ever changing home, One relationship That feeds And supersedes All other relationships. I needed to leave, Because poetry pouts When I feed it sameness, Even organic, luxurious sameness. Here she sits to my right, Muse, angel and duende, My inspiration and my co-pilot On this One Infinite Road.