Peaceful by Georgia Hilton

Peaceful

We sit down, root ourselves to the ground.

As tree-roots’ fine capillaries lace the soil,

becoming mesh, a net, absorbing strength –

nerve fibres pulsing signals from brain to leg –

as carbon fibre cables on the ocean bed,

we are interconnected, drawing sustenance.

So – we sit down – root ourselves to the ground.

No kick, no tear, no bite, no swear, no punch,

no shout, no belt, no stick, no gun, no pick.

We. Just. Sit. Down. Lock arms, cross legs & then

we sing the song of sundown and leaf-fall, of first

frost and dove’s call – a foal’s first tottering steps

– a bud – a stem.

Georgia Hilton is an Irish poet and fiction writer living in Winchester, England. Her poetry has appeared in various magazines and anthologies, such as The Rialto, Prole Magazine,192 Magazine, and Perhappened. Georgia has a poetry pamphlet, I went up the lane quite cheerful (2018) and a collection, Swing (2020), both published by Dempsey and Windle. Most recently, her collaborative pamphlet Sea Between Us (2022) was published by Nine Pens Press. She tweets sometimes at @GGeorgiahilton