Slow Blood Carves Rivers

I was birthed by trees
shown the light through tangled roots
encased in solitary, steeped bark

ravens were my guards
concealed behind leaves & branches & darkness

with alabaster skin and ashen features I slept
ribs tormented by the shivers of opium
the thick distance concealing my plight

years flooded in and escaped in seasons
time only witnessed in my decay

the river was my reprieve
she felt her way through rock through bone through fossil
mutely encroaching upon my tree

while months shed their hours and years took their toll
in silence and duty she carved
loosening bark, softening boughs
under a bed of floating leaves.

a sun splintered through the trees
I shook off the ophidian roots
the bark fell like dusk and dissolved
frail and blinded I walked
a pale fire chanting my name
I walked into the centre of that pale fire
and the centre was a heart