SYRUP SEASON

Take your 
voice back...

from the breathing 
forest, from the sprawling 

canopy, from the branches, 
roots, and soil,

from the minerals 
in the soil sent

as marrow toward the leaves 
and toward the sun.

Take it from late 
winter, early spring, 

from the freezing 
and the thawing,

and from the thawing 
and the freezing, 

from the sugars 
made from sunlight 

and rain, take it 
from the forest

because only the forest 
can return it to you. 

Only the forest can teach you
how a voice lives inside a living 

body, how it moves,
how it becomes sap,

and when it is time 
to be tapped

and when that sap 
can be sent 

to the sugar room 
and made into syrup.

Only the forest knows 
when it is syrup season.