If it’s all the same to you,
I won’t sing anymore.
I’m saving all my breaths
for the great beyond.
It’s time to say goodbye
to the world I have loved
so the sky of the forest
glowed with the stars of my voice.
I have called constellations.
Known what it is
to press against a mate
and procreate.
I have forgotten glassy planets
sinking through the water
over and over.
Lived by rhythm
and transition,
disappeared in ripples.
There is an energy in me
I am coming to know.
There is a right and wrong
way to live.
The bacteria of the soil
know my family name,
the sun in the river
heats my bath.
The dew and I
share a leaf
each morning.
I don’t want to go.
Evelyn Pae is an aspiring naturalist and poet currently based in Syracuse, New York.