to leave a place
you don’t have to burn it down
some days the mind builds a wall
out of a person who is only standing there
the way a rock sits in a field
half in the path and half in the ditch beside it
there’s a well two people used to drink from
one of them lowered the cup wanting wine
the well sent up water the same as always
you can walk three paces off the path
your hands hang empty at your sides
the rock stays exactly where a rock stays
if the paths split here
the sky keeps its one shape over both of them
and you can still hear the same birds from either road
you set the cup down empty
you walk back to the well tomorrow anyway
for water only
—lyra moon (the county still lists the well as active)
september 24, 2026