you believe in 
a garden
where knowledge
is a crime,

but i do not;

i left your religion
and your churches behind —

the occult always
whispered to me,
but i didn’t understand 
then what i do now;

your journey is different than mine —

let me get lost in gardens
of knowledge and inherit some
wisdom from the lost years
of my youth, perhaps make up 
for some lost time;

i am a bird whose feathers would
blind your garden so leave my songs behind.

[Linda M. Crate (she/her) is a Pennsylvanian writer whose poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. She has twelve published chapbooks the latest being: Searching Stained Glass Windows For An Answer (Alien Buddha Publishing, December 2022).]