the trees were humming
your birthday song
the clouds were cuddling you
in their arms
the grass was soft
beneath your head
the flowers decorated
your nature's bed
the wind was soft
on your reaching hands
an empty space
where a mother stands
no worries, though, child
don't be afraid
i will be with you
and come to your aid
a sweet babe
in the woods of forever
keeping you safe
born with a tether
a tether to nature
to all things sweet
i'll love you always
and your darling heartbeat

Somewhere beyond the deep
is a place to which I journey
when I am asleep.

This place is neither cold nor hot,
big nor small,
near nor far,
beneath the stars.

It is a place to which I go
when I must run far, far away.
Far, far away.

Away from the circus,
away from the fear.
Away from the chaos,
away from the tears.

This place is my beckoning,
my caller, my finder.
My reminder that everything is alright
in the end.

My haven.
My truest and dearest friend.

The house by the lake
was nestled among the woods.
A crack in the winding road,
red and white and quiet.

Its windows reflected
the sparkling stream.
Like crystals dancing
in the midst of a dream.

The sounds are loud and soft
all at once.
Chickens, rowers, fishermen.
Silence, wind, sunlight
lapping at the shore.

I close my eyes to see it now.
How bright it is in my mind's eye.
Hello, my friend.
I'll be back again.

With water so blue,
the lake I knew.

i couldn't be human
so i made a home
in the woods
i danced with the mist
and ran with the wolves.
i lay on the pine needles
wove leaves into my hair,
perhaps if you come looking
you will find me there.

i wandered in the forest, as so many hopeless do
despite the warnings of the wise
and found myself tracing the world
fingers ghosting over leaves and foxglove blossoms
as the woods grew dark around me
and the moon seemed to shy away from my path

when i stood still to search for it, what i found instead was her
standing tall enough to choke the light
and yet almost like a flame
bloodied flowers growing from her chest and covering her ribs
and antlers stretching from her amber hair

"i am", she spoke, "the patron of dreams just barely forgotten
the echo of a memory straying further away
the more you strive to keep it close"

a flutter between us in the silence
a moth
landing on her skin
and attempting to draw blood
where it sat, a new flower spread
swallowing it whole

my head felt heavy as i swayed
slick sickening warmth coating my teeth
i fell to my knees and as i did
my eyes met the leaves and dirt below
but where before there had been sticks and wood
i saw bones littering the earth

"it is a shame", she said
over the sound of the forest stirring
twisting with displeasure at my discovery
"you were as beautiful as you were lost"

the walk through the dark forest,
with these trembling legs full of fear.
the fear of hissing coming from a height,
And the rumors of a living giant bear.
the crying trees suffering from blight.
hands start shaking, whenever I try to write.
the experience was honest and real,
that roar if lion I still can hear.

Checking my phone
Impulsively
Don’t want to go
Home
My heart has settled
Somewhere else
Where the wild things are
In the forest of dreams

you heard me correctly darling when i said i was

going camping in the witherness. look in this bag i’ve already

packed sun strokes, swill trunks, an array of emptying

books and a flashlight that projects white moving dogs.

in the witherness, we stack silent burning gavels, achieving

the balance of a permanent new moon. we are arriving

by cheap chernobyl trucks and we’ll know when we’re there when

the engine dies and we open the hood to find a blanket-less

girl. don’t worry, she is environmental. made of mist.

we stomp on her sisters, **** like holy anorexics,

steady our foreheads on the ancient bark of

the witherness (dark hallways in a house of leaves)

Quiet now. lay your spine on eggshells so that your joints

may hatch asterisk chirp double asterisk something

akin to what asteroids do, but with a murmuring whistle

the only noise you can hear at the edge of the witherness.