Alia Bensliman, Circulum, 2016
Mixed media on archival paper
Courtesy of the artist
Artist’s Website, Instagram
I remember it as a sapling newly-planted
and now it fills the yard
with sun-filtered shade and golden
half-dollar autumn leaves.
It does not seem completely unreasonable,
this span of years,
though one could wish it otherwise—
and I plan on serving out my lot,
do not misunderstand me—
but I have grown old
alongside the paper birch
and watched it become other-worldly
in its shaggy, deep-rooted self-confidence,
and I take comfort in the knowledge
that what survives me contains
seeds to grow
beyond human shadows
into the just and unmitigated light.