Your Forest

Your forest is too thick

I cannot find my way

It’s too vast to circumnavigate

I have wasted countless hours pressed into its claustrophobic thickets

I can no longer count

Every time I think I recognize a birch tree, a cedar, a mighty pine

Lofty branches sweep upward only to plunge me into shadow

Down here on your floor where your roots reach up to tumble me

Into that bunched up throw rug of soft decay you call a bed

Maybe I dropped my compass

While bending down for a drink of water from a stream

That sprang up to surprise me, an unexpected offering

Your forest is too thick

For a while that did not matter

But I am on a journey

And to journey,  one must move forward

Sometimes without looking back

Though, first I must escape you

Which requires an exit strategy

And a deep well of determination

I hope that doesn’t mean lighting a match

To all the dead, dry sticks that tangle in the dust

But if I can’t find another way, so be it

I  can’t promise you a controlled burn

When you offer me such a bounty of fuel

We may lose everything

We may gain fertile ground

Sometimes a little arson is required

In the name of liberation