
Christine Delea
What Moss Says by Penelope Scambly Schott
published in River and South, May 2018
What Moss Says
by Penelope Scambly Schott
There's enough moss to go around
is what I say to myself.
When I lived on the East Coast
moss only said North,
but here in rainy western Oregon
moss proclaims I embrace.
The circumference of each branch
is wrapped in Old Man's Beard.
When I must abandon my used body
in this damp forest
moss will whisper Welcome, sister
as it dresses my ivory bones.

Fairy Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon
photo from iClipArt