Faltering with feet
So small I cannot
Stand, my ashen knees
Lift from jagged points
Of blood-stained rocks. I
Climb the bark of
The slender birch and
Hope its supple limb
Does not break.

My eyes sting as if
They are crowned with thorns.
The blood of once pure
Flesh has stained the earth
That I inhabit.
Yet the delicate
Pain of existence
Caresses me like
A new mother does
For her newborn babe.

I flounder through brush
And foliage, still
Eyeless, but not yet
Aware of how blind
I truly have been.
I feel the frigid
Drops of rain hammer
My translucent skin.
I see indigo veins
Underneath pallid
Skin. I feel my lungs
Exhaust my breath and
I collapse to the
Mercy of the soft
Ebony earth. Then
I wait for the jade
Leaves to swallow me
And ensnare what is
Left of my forlorn
Spirit. But I see
A light peeking through
The copse of emerald
Trees.

But then it fades and
I shift my downcast
Eye to the trail I
Must forever trek
Upon.

Then I stay.