Salt the Earth

Remy DeJoseph
Nov 4 · 1 min read

Don’t come to me for retribution

When it was you who assailed

Our land with a barrage of salt.

What once we grew in earnest

And loyalty, you diminished to

Nothing but naked and sickly

Soil. An acres worth of soil.

You hide behind your pretense,

That you may wish it gone

If you walk away,

That you may wish it gone

If you push it behind you.

You cannot walk away,

You cannot push it behind

When this land holds your labor.

The labor we cared for,

The labor we laughed while,

The labor we swaddled in vicious cold nights

When neither of us could comprehend

What may happen, we just had each other.

I loved you.

I held your image to a light

And never saw through it,

Never fearing transparency

Between our bodies and

Within our growing garden.

Now what of this garden

You left for me to bury?

Now what of this image

I hold up to a light and only

See a ghost?

Never did you once look me in the eyes

And with sorrowful breath declare apology,

Declare regret, recognize this earth

We worked so hard for. You cleansed it

With supreme alacrity, with no remorse.

Do not forget you salted this soil,

Because I will never let you.

Remy DeJoseph

Written by

Writer of many things, a friend, and a soul brother to everything that lives. Channillo: https://channillo.com/user/25375/

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