Stay

lately, waking comes early,  
and I am like Venus, newly arrived 
and poised in the last of winter's dark night; 
whiter, brighter and finally revealed 

exuberant, i dive into the remembering 
         of rustling wings and sprouting seeds,
flowing sap and budding branches 
      
I float airy and bare on the edge of the dawn 
and into the morning’s Spring chorus 
        that sings "stay" while I make up my mind 
        
and sings "stay" 
so I can love you even more than I did before

---

Music pairing: The Pines: Hanging from the Earth

may these words bring truth and healing
through open hands and hearts
and then, let it flow back into our Mother Earth
for the love of all her beings.

The seed for this poem was planted by: Return #24 by Canisa Lubrin.

Return #24

up early I try not to give
away my hold on air, human’d
in me. I try like an impaled
Venus to not look down.
so if I fall in call it my fill
call it after-life, see something 
permanent, or call it a dispossession.
or that I’ve given up sitting, or 
knowing nothing about a way-
though, say out-come if I don’t 
come out. say my whole life is in
standing in the breeze, is in
this dare to fix some dream—

-Canisia Lubrin

This poem was published in laid bare, an art and poetry booklet by Diane Perazzo and Barbara Brown. 2025.