Weed

Your green leaves caress my soul

Giving me moments of feeling whole.

Oranges and purples break down on the tray

Escaping the pain for just one more day

Glowing flowers burn through the rip

Leaning back in the smoky trip

Euphoric metabolites start to surge through

Momentarily I bid the seething a’dieau

Lightness, relief, horror gone from the head

The old me back, raised from the dead

Smoke fills the lungs as I rise with a smile

Freed from my grave for a little while

Let’s play or chill! I need the fun.

Or take a walk, appreciate the sun!

Seeing the world, in a different light

Maybe I’ll sleep without nightmares tonight.

Another rip, time to talk to a friend

I wish the ride would never end

Relaxed, finally, the only way I know how

But them come the munchies...time to chow!

More euphoria from some cereal to crunch

Or maybe I’ll find some ice cream for brunch!

It’s not even noon and the plumes fill the air

The only way I know how I can truly be “there”.

Dank flowers, crystalized for my mind

THC treating me so kind

Pain receptors almost blocked

Rage and fear once again locked

Another puff to take more away

Rare Darkness or Stardawg saving the day!

But the smoke again spirals me down

Again from my past, the whispering sound

Haunting ghosts try pulling me back

Retaining my mind, the sack on “the rack”.

Yanking, tearing me every direction

Again. Reality. I have no connection.

Another puff, I can maybe return

To this moment for which I yearn

Where horror on sorrow finally melt

Somehow managing the cards life dealt

Turning aside with glass pipe in hand

Another hit is what I demand

Tug a huge rip, maybe five, six, or more

Alleviating the past like never before

But ahhhh to feel lungs express my loss

Now I’m relaxed, a world across

Tears from my past no longer matter

A little more sane now than the Mad Hatter

Thanking the Lord for a natural heal

A plant that helps me find good things to feel

Taking the seed planting so small

Flourishing weed, growing so tall

In the shine, you show me a knew route

To reach for the sun, forgetting my doubt

To not turn away from the moment at hand

And pull myself outta the drowning quick-sand

Embracing family and friends, no longer a toil

I too, transplanted, into now fertile soil.

Like my weed, I will grow strong

And like any weed, carry on.

Charleen Richey

March 7, 2021