Roots Run Deep

A poem

Ants cross the concrete that cracked under my weight They are light with the condition of always having something to do and somewhere to be together Never idling, they proceed too quickly to get caught in the tracks trailing behind the place where I stopped moving My feet were so heavy, and I sank so far down into the ground that the tips of my toes touched the roots on the first day Descending lower on the second, my limbs grappled with the rocks, and my bruised feet bled as they tapped the water table, my own red roots spreading into the water and trickling down into the lower levels of the earth On the third, I tried to rise but the bedrock had come up to meet me So close to the center now that I have no sight, I can no longer sense that the world is spinning But I know it does because I can hear the vibrations of the ants above, in motion together as they pass me by The world turns without me and it’s all above my head