Walks With Emily Poem by Suzanne Hayasaki

I see you Emily
On sunny May mornings
Standing in green meadows
Covered in purple buds
Fringed in clover
Lost in thought.

I hear you speak when the bees buzz
As I pass by lavender and chamomile,
Strolling through the fields of your poems
In a different century on a distant continent.

I picture you, pencil stub in pocket,
Dress hem damp with dew,
Walking alone along the same paths
Forever seeing something new.

Like you, I know I am nobody.
Like hope, I ask nothing of you.
But I take comfort from you
And our sisterhood of simplicity.

So when I leave my house
I will leave my phone behind
I will allow myself to be silent
And I will listen, I will witness, I will think.

And much later, if I am lucky,
Something will come to me
And I will sit at my keyboard and type
In hopes of bringing my tiny world to life.