Confessions

Leaves crunch underneath my feet like shattered glass

Like cries for help, the sound guides my way through the dark

Its rhythm finds me, draws me deeper, pulls me closer

I have become one with this place, I’ve made the forest my home

The trees, though each one so different, carry a familiar tone

They sway in time to the calling of the wind and greet me warmly

Such compassion was not always shown to me

There was once a time where my strong and constant friends were not so

Here in this forest visitors were never kindly welcomed, I was no exception

Time is a friend to association and with time they grew to know me

Their steady scowls evolved into frowns of empathy

Their mighty, foreboding arms no longer strangled me; they comforted me

The longer I wandered these woods the more they knew my pain

A wandering vagabond I am but I no longer seek refuge

I hear voices of those calling for me to come home, to come back to sanity

“I can’t” I softly reply, “These trees are my only hope. I don’t want to leave”

There was a time that I trusted in those oft calling voices

I willingly fell into the bed of their lies and made myself at home

I soon realized that this bed wreaked of sorrow and torture

I ran for the hills that had kept a steady on me all of that time

I could no longer call these voices my friends, they said nasty things

So here I am treading ever so lightly in the deep wood of my own sorrow

I have stumbled upon many who are like me here, their pain is a welcome sight

It reminds me that I am not the only forest dweller here

We walk together, breathe in the same air, and smile when the sunlight reaches our faces

Oh, yes. The sunlight comes every now and then

It provides us with the warmth our bodies need, the light to guide our way

We do not wander aimlessly here, there is an end to all of this pain

We are sojourners and travelers who chose the dark truth over a beautiful lie

We will not fall in vain and we will not go back to where we were

The sunlight reminds us of what we need and what we need is each other