Tattoos Upon Bark

Forest of tall trees.

Perfect posture; expectations placed on me.

Bark peeling like sunburn– leaving debris

beside the ever-falling leaves.

People passing by,

come to carve their lovers’ names into my side.

Searching for space, where words are not written.

Tattoos on bark– on rough, raw skin.

Letters, hearts, and rhymes;

teenage promises are suspended in time.

Though of course, of course, everything must change.

Even the trees are growing faint.

Now the time has come.

The heartbeat of memories– through me they thrum.

Finally, I fall. I fall with a thud.

The life I held returns to dust.

February, 2023

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