I wish I could tell you
And have you understand
That you are you,
And I am me.
We put so many years between us
And in all that time you’ve changed nothing
While I’ve had to change everything about me.
Just please understand
That I am a locust
And you are a tree.
I laid dormant for years
By your side, if only by circumstance
I shed my skin again and again
While you sat still
Unrelenting in your ways
Unmoving through the seasons
Resistant to the surrounding decay
I pray you understand
As I only have this to say
You and I were born in the same forest
And you expected me to stay?
Was I a bit too real for you
too raw, like meat bleeding on the butcher’s block
too honest like an angel
as I stripped the skin from my flesh
flesh from my bones
put every prickling nerve on display
every taut tendon
Did it frighten you to learn the truth
of what lies beneath the searing burns and scars
below the surface as if I’ve been lashed
by the thorny branches of a honey locust tree
Did you find yourself choking on your rank hypocrisy
Your pathetic platitudes about love
empty mewlings about empathy
as you stand there stolidly silent
setting yourself apart from all the nobodies
behind your walls, your fences to protect your privacy
when you know damn well their true purpose is to prevent
what you don’t want intruding
in your perfect fantasy of champagne soirees
your loafers polished to a high shine
black mirrors in which you can see yourself
instead of us, instead of me
From those festering wounds my words come
the poetry I pen, the rhymes I wrangle, the worlds I write
searching for a guiding light
someone to share this journey
Amid the dark and gloomy glen
you tower where you've always been
a spectral shape, foreboding, fierce
with witchy wands to prod and pierce
Evil, evil locust tree
how you haunt and worry me
Waving pointy arms around
casting scary shadows down
poker-fingers stoke my fear
striking poses quite austere
Evil, evil locust tree
raining down your thorn debris
If a scratch, skin barely breaking
starts my poor weak flesh to aching
it will hurt for days and days
from your vicious, vengeful ways
Evil, evil locust tree
please have mercy- hear my plea
Wicked, wearing crown of thorns
ripping, shredding, blood adorned
cruelly cutting to the bone
never leaving me alone
Evil, evil locust tree
won't you ever let me be?
amidst the tangle of trumpet vines
young saplings and half rotted stumps
where buffalo grass is near head high
an old stone foundation silently rests
it bore the full weight for many years
an unpainted wooden barn, i’ve been told
but the structure is long gone now
the foundation all that is left to show
in the middle stands a black locust tree
i judge to be at least forty feet tall
long sharp thorns glistening red
in the light of cool evening sun
a replacement for the old barn perhaps
i believe the foundation thinks this too
the kinship of stone and wood found
those many long years ago
i’ve thought about removing the tree
but have decided to let it stand
even a foundation needs a companion
long days and nights are ahead
I awake to the girl sleeping by my side
The clouds are everywhere within the blue sky
I wake the girl and her eyes open slow
As we stand her and I have no place to go
We start to walk and I begin to hear
A message being whispered, the end you will fear
I grip the girls hand and then we start to walk
Then the spirits enter my mind and they begin to talk
I try to ignore what they say and something catches my eye
Leaving the ground to the air a sparrow begins to fly
The sparrow can talk and it calls out my name
This treacherous bird seems to be very tame
It perches on the branch of a locust tree
Asking us both if we want to be free
We agree with the bird and nod our heads
Everything goes black and we wonder if we're dead
Our boundaries brighten the surrounding land
We both are standing on ground covered in sand
The spirits tell me that I'm still a fool
I respond quickly this is my mind and here I rule
Their whispering voices fade away
I check on the girl and she seems to be okay
We both lay down right next to each other
We hold hands and look to the water
Now is my chance to make things right
I kiss her lips and then we fall asleep through the night...
Alone
in ancient
plantation and forest-
a false accacia the best
survives
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