Purple Cabbages by Mikko Harvey

and I was just a little diplomat from another dimension, bound by the terms of the deal I had struck at the gates of perception

Purple Cabbages

by Mikko Harvey

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We agreed
that we would walk
as far as the row
of purple cabbages grew, 
then turn back.
But the purple cabbages
heard us saying this,
took it as a challenge,
and began erupting
out of the dirt 
spontaneously,
lengthening their row
into the far distance
until we couldn’t
see the ending…

No, they didn’t—
I just wanted them to
because this
was our final walk
because you
had reached
that inevitable
point in one’s life
when one simply must
move to Seattle
and I
was just
a little diplomat
from another dimension,
bound by the terms
of the deal
I had struck
at the gates
of perception

to stay here,
in Western
Massachusetts,
for at least six
thousand more years.