Tell them she is leaving, leaving her daughters
both the beauty and the addict, leaving her brothers,
the deacon, the blind one, the boat captain.
Yes, she’s leaving us, leaving me too. Tell the bees
she wants to go, see the mysteries, the curiosities,
to pass through the veil, to slip through
the silver-ed side of the mirror.
Tell the bees, she will not vanish
she will be here, between the hives,
riding an updraft, she will be on firefly
wings, turning darkness to light.
Tell the bees she will speak in moments
between seconds, be seen between droplets of rain,
and she will be where moonlight turns water silver.
Tell the bees, she will still heal deep wounds,
sweeten what is sour, she will still shine,
amber-gold sunlight through a jar of honey.
/////
Susannah Winters Simpson is the author of four poetry collections, Geography of Love & Exile (Cervena Barva Press/2016), Mother Wind (2024 Pine Row Press/2024), Dharma of Death & Desire (2024/Shanti Arts Press) and her fourth collection, Blue Agape is forthcoming from Fernwood Press/2025
She is a hospice nurse and facilitates therapeutic writing groups for substance abuse treatment centers. Susannah is the Founder and Co-Director of the Performance Poets of the Palm Beaches Monthly Reading Series.
http://www.susannahwsimpsonpoet.com
Lightwood 