Fig tree, santa higuera,
altar to summer’s holy fruit.
Soft, sunburnt tears—
lágrimas para lo que está pasando.
Ancient leather pouches
warm to the touch, time-old
symbol of peace and prosperity.
Higos, your uniqueness inspires,
bundle of hundreds of flowers
turned inside out.
Your taste divine,
eternally taking me back,
el mar Mediterráneo,
another lifetime.
—First published in A Feast for Santa Barbara: Poets Celebrating Food & Drink
Carolyn Chilton Casas has seen her poetry appear in journals including Braided Way, Grateful Living, and One Earth Sangha and in anthologies including The Wonder of Small Things: Poems of Peace and Renewal, Thin Spaces & Sacred Spaces, and Women in a Golden State. She is a practicing Reiki Master and teacher who explores ways of healing in the articles she writes for energy and wellness magazines in several countries. More of her work can be found on www.carolynchiltoncasas.com and in her new book of essays and poems about healing, "Unlocking Ordinary Wonders."