Once I was struck by lightning

and survived, an instrument of the Universe.

I hear your words before you speak,

feel your wounds in my bones.

We journey together through shadows

beneath the amber full moon.

Feel wind, hear rattling of bones.

disentangle vines, find clearings,

spirits, lay bodies to rest.

When your tears fall on scorched land,

green sprouts spring from dead branches.

Wildflowers bloom, swallowtails’ wings flutter.

We rise above wisps of cloud,

look down from mountaintops.

Between seen and unseen, we travel

through your dreams. Tea leaves and

crystal balls in the comfort of my office.

Repair the world, they told me.

Judith Lee Herbert has returned to poetry after a successful career in another field. She graduated Cum Laude in English Literature from Columbia University. She has a daughter who is a sophomore in college, and she lives in New York City, with her husband, who writes plays. She had her daughter while in her 40s.