The Clearing

We went there together,
you took my hand and brushed it through the pine leaves,
which formed perfect mounds like fallen snow at our sides.
You laughed at me flitting back and forth among the branches, a hummingbird in search of pollen.
You rose and performed your own enchantment, twisting through the trees.
I should've joined your sombre dance, we would have been unstoppable.

I went back there alone today,
sat among the piles of broken branches
I tried to feel that same coating
but found their thorn edges
digging into me instead.
A single drop of blood fell from my finger to the clearing;
Stains among the weeds.
You laughter is still ringing here
among this haunted silence.