splinters

i never meant to play it

i was only wandering

through a little music shop
that smelt of old wood,
dust
and quiet afternoons

there it was

hanging a little apart
from the others

i still don’t know
why i reached for that one

perhaps

it was simply waiting
to be noticed

it settled against me
without surprise

as though we had already met somewhere
i could no longer remember

i played carefully at first

letting simple chords
find the room

then somewhere between
one breath and the next

my fingers carried on
before my thoughts

i stopped

and wondered

how many evenings
these strings had already travelled

how many hands
had polished the neck smooth

not with practice

but with living

perhaps wood remembers warmth differently

perhaps it keeps
the tiny dents beneath fingertips

the shape of longing
long after the names have gone

i hung the guitar back

and turned to leave

halfway home i realised

i was quietly humming a melody
i didn’t remember learning

i didn’t turn back

i simply kept walking with something softer
beneath my ribs

For Fractals of Gaia 🌿.
may every strange trail lead you home.

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Something more from me?

Nothing truly leaves — it just changes how it stays.

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All artwork courtesy of NDjin Gallery