The Monarch butterflies are leaving
and my old friend died the other day.
Organic milkweed
can bring them back.
My friend has seeds,
she says, “Do you need some?”
I don’t know what milkweed looks like
or why butterflies need them.
I don’t know where he is now.
Probably in a student’s heart,
a seed – choosing
to live there instead.

In memory of Gabriel Monge

surrender allows
our quiet rooms to be
a refuge for our words
to come back to life