The bench spoke to me as I passed it by.
I turned, looked on its emptiness
and joined it for a moment.

The air swirled with the sounds of our world,
birds chirping, breeze cool on skin and eyes,
sun warm and inviting.

Myself silent, my world on hold
as I breathed in the great oak's gift
of strength, solitude, and the delicate sigh
of our mother earth.

* Written in the front courtyard at the Robley Rex VA Medical Center on June 28th, 2022, after I'd just left an appointment.