when i leave i hope
i will carry the spirits on my skin
i will carry the earth in my legs
the sky in my eyes
 
when i leave i hope
i will carry the birds in my feet
the trees in my shoulders
the people in my chest
 
when i leave i hope
i will carry the stars in my fingers
the breeze on my eyelashes
the sunset in my forehead
 
when i leave i hope
i will carry the dark in my arms
the sun in my spine
i will carry the silence in my blood
 
when i return i hope
i will forget what i have carried
 
© Matt Hetherington
Previously published in From This Broken Hill

Beech Forest, Germany
Photograph: http://thegrid.soup.io/