Just arrived home from a camping trip and thought I would write something inspired by the woods. I guess the point I really wanted to drive home was that growing up means dealing with demons, and every demon has a price if you let them live in your head too long.

–

A girl and her heart sit under the twinkling sky

enveloped by a smoky breath of air;

Masked by ribbons of towering trees

swaying, hopeful, in the breeze.

–

A teenager and her soul sprawl across the stalks of dying grass

surrounded with wild howls of the forest;

cloaked by the slippery shadows of night

which whisper: come closer, my dear, and dance with us,

for who wants to lay under the moon’s suffocating spotlight?

–

A woman curls into the fetal position among the weeds and the worms

hiding from the wolves that snarl and the ghosts that bite;

she trembles as the darkness leaves nothing but

ash, dust, and soot.