I forgive the Willow for trying to catch me
She didn’t know that I was soft
She didn’t know I would run towards the top branches
Scramble deep into her leaves and
Go somewhere she couldn’t hold me
She tries to warn me, tries to creak me aware
But I’ve never heard a thing I didn’t want to hear.
I was so so close to the light
And my body was a child’s
Molded out of hopes and grief
I just needed to get somewhere else
I step and she cracks
I fall and she tries to catch me
But she is real wood and earth
I am full flushed cheeks
That were unblemished until today

Forever marked by her efforts to soften the fall
Teaching me so early and so young
How trying to save someone can do damage
How trying to hold on leaves marks

But how was the Willow to know?
She and I both underestimated
just how desperate, just how dedicated
I’d be to getting out of the dark.
How could the Willow have imagined
How badly I wanted to have light?