SAM AURELI

A Way of Staying Soft

Some days, I dream of letting go,
to float like a petal on a stream
that never questions its path.
To watch headlines fade,
grief slip by unnamed.
To say, the world is breaking,
and feel only a flicker of heat.

But I’ve seen how silence
invites cruelty—how a quiet moss creeps
where no one looks. How beauty, ignored,
dims like a sparrow’s call no one hears.

So instead, I light a match at dawn,
set a candle by my desk. I cradle coffee
in my worn mug and praise the warmth
that blooms. I cut extra stalks of asparagus
for the neighbors. I tuck seeds into soil—
coneflower, milkweed—and whisper a hope
for whatever still hums.

It’s a small act,
but it’s how I stay tender
in a world that keeps asking us
to go numb.

Sam is a design and construction professional from Italy, living in Boston, MA. He turned to poetry later in his journey, seeking refuge from the chaos of daily life. His poems have appeared, or are forthcoming, in Humana Obscura, Sontag Mag, Underscore Magazine, Prosetrics The Magazine, among other literary journals.