Alone against the dawn
A shadow awed the wind to silence
Green fingers reached towards the endless open sky
A trunk sturdy as concrete and brown as a cocoa bean
Unscathed, untouched, pristine
Limbs supple and pliable, lean arms reached out to embrace the sun
Veins filled with smiles
Heart pumped nothing but laughter
But when the storm came, his fury struck the tree with a blinding
Passion
A crack echoed throughout the woods crunching the air
And lightning permeated the flesh and left the skin scorched
Repulsive and black the stain hissed and burned
Seeping its way deep into the tree’s heart
And her silhouette waned like a crescent moon
The tree shuddered and moaned but stood tall
Unflinching but damaged still
Time went quickly and the sting became an ache
New flesh grew and covered the old
Once again the trunk maintained a look of perfection
The stain lay silent beneath the layer of new skin
Pausing, scheming to tarnish her perfection
And when a soft drizzle came, the tree’s roots lapped at it hungrily
The leaves drew it in and became soft
The limbs shone with it and stretched out
But the tree flinched away
For the drops had awakened the stain
Its black hands wrenched apart the her breast
Voraciously lashing out
Insatiable hunger for revenge drove it onward
Oozing through cracks until it attacked the limbs
Once the limbs cracked it wilted the leaves
When the leaves fell away lifeless it gnawed the roots
The ground shook and throbbed from the pressure
But the trunk cringed
And the stain tore her torso in two
Ripped her heart free and maliciously took a bite
Whose rough tongue lapped over the still beating organ as she watched
Helpless
With a sigh the tree lurched forward
Face thrust onto the forest floor
Arms bent and broken
Roots ripped free of the shielding soil
Leaves shrunken on the ground lifeless
Veins popped as dark words flowed black tainted by anger
That stain had killed the shadow
The tree stopped resisting
Stopped begging
Stopped fighting
And with a desperate wail surrendered to the stain