The Long Hello

It is a rambling paragraph of sentences

Made up of long goodbyes

Punctuated by hello.

There can be no intense reflection

On the things cast aside

If you want it to flow,

And get on with the next chapter.

Some liken it to drinking the desert,

All sand and cactus needles,

A glass at a time.

Parched, pinched with a wicked thirst 

Begging for a drop of water

Like a hobo for a dime.

Behind a crate of depression apples.

I see the garden amid the lizards and dunes,

The snake still striking at my heel,

Interrupting my stride.

My friends say it’s mirage made hallucination,

Or maybe a chemically induced trance,

Or simple righteous pride.

But I can see clearly the tree of life.