… I was wrong
when I told you
life starts at the center
and radiates outward.
There is another
mode of life, one
that draws sustenance
from the peripheries:
each slim leaf
slots itself
into the green air;
each capillary root
sutures itself
into the soil.
Together these
small adhesions
can bear the much-
diminished weight
of the whole.
Stephen Sparks 