Sylvia and the man

trees don't have feelings 

he said as he drew the knife 

across the rough bark  

and the clear sticky sap   

ran down

 and bleed out.  

 

she watches silently  

the irony of the love heart he draws

makes her grimace.  

tacky and meaningless.  

she has grown still 

rooted to the spot.  

 

He kisses her  

but it is not a real kiss  

because her lips are as wooden as the heart  

he thinks is now his to carve out.  

 

She watches as he leaves  

trudges away  

only time is forever she thinks.

It is autumn now  

and all her pretenses have fallen away.   

She retreats into the forest  

and silently watches the world   

reaches her hands to the sky and tries to embrace the light 

and heal the hollow spot in her soul he whittled away.

 

He never thought the love he felt  

could wither and die

never thought he couldn't reshape their problems

change her

but maybe those flowering feelings  

were never love  

unnatural and wrong, he thinks. 

because people can't love trees. 

trees don't have feelings. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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