I would stretch toward the sun
taking full advantage, roots soaking
moisture from the soil of generations,
crisp green shaft shooting
upward with abandon,
through glint of morning light,
dappled frost-like
sugar-coating,
and though undistinguished,
lost in a sea of green,
countless flags waving
in the new spring breeze,
I would know who I am
and who I’m meant to be.
Leslie Smith TownsendLeslie Smith Townsend is a poet, essayist, and memoirist whose work has been published in LEO, Journeys, The Louisville Review, Courier-Journal, Arable, Literary Mama, Christian Science Monitor, Friends Journal, Gyroscope Review, Metafore, and in the anthologies, Voices of Alcoholism, Show Me All Your Scars, and The Boom Project: Voices of a Generation. She is a graduate of Spalding University's MFA in writing program. Townsend has a Ph.D. in the psychology of religion and works as a licensed marriage and family therapist.
