Will I Follow | Teen Ink

Will I Follow

January 12, 2024
By ruthholst SILVER, Hamden, Connecticut
ruthholst SILVER, Hamden, Connecticut
5 articles 0 photos 0 comments

When you leave, will the grass and dirt remain, unrestrained by the plough that churns them? Will they climb towards the sky, or become homes for birds and squirrels? With time, the houses will be granted decomposition, and feed the flowers and vines that decorate their collapsed frames—will they run wild through the streets and overtake the skyscrapers and cable lines that once crushed them?


But I wonder, will I follow when you leave?


You will become unbounded, as free to breathe as the trees you came from. You are not the axe you hold, but the roots you leave behind; no longer tamed by iron and hand, but flying freely above the clouds, warmed by the sun’s gentle rays.


But what will become of me?


The author's comments:

This is the final piece in my portfolio on isolation and loneliness, Birds in Treetops. This prose poem compares the freedom of one who has experienced change with the speaker who is still uncertain about their own abilities. In the end, there is no certain answer for a lonely person, and we only have our hope.


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