Curled on my side

one hand over my face

in a hug of silt

snug beneath a mound of alluvial soil

broad-leafed black tupelos once shaded this spot

and they will again

someday

their seeds press my grey skin waiting

to sprout again alongside

wax myrtle and white fingers of summersweet

they whisper

we are patience

we are stories without endings

we are swaying under a future sun

they broke me

and my fear leeched away

washed clean as bone

they ended me but

I draw deep breaths with those who mourn me

they tried to silence me

yet my voice is evergreen

in my daughter’s mission to find the missing

I would not be forgotten so

I shouted out bergamot petals and

here you found me