I Cast My Vote

I cast my vote.
Dandelion pappi of dreams
Dancing across an infinite field,
Hopeful,
Mixing with all the others.
Those others.

The seeds, mine and theirs, sink toward the soil
Through the nettles and grasses of fear and difference.

I choose prayer over despair.
An invocation.
May the dreams that find purchase in the earth
Crack open under the blade of the plow,
Transform into better good,
Turn into the loam
To serve the highest good of all.
Not just ours, not just theirs.
All.
The highest good of all.

I cast my vote,
And my hopes and dreams float,
Carried by a gasp of breeze over thistles and rye
As I pray.

©Pennie Nichols. 6 November 2024