There’s a tree in my neighbour’s garden
And inside, I see a nymph.
She’s trapped within
That rough, grey bark.
Frozen.
Heart still beating,
Eyes still seeing,
Mind still racing.
But they will slow soon too.
Years later she will forget.
Another form, she’ll take;
A reverse metamorphosis
Eyes still seeing
Heart still beating.
Only just,
Only then
It’ll beat to the rhythm of her prison.
No more restlessness.
She’ll take her cocoon
Sometimes she’ll remember
A previous life.
It will return like pleasant scents
Mixing in with
Stale odours of bark and sap.
And then she’ll be locked
In, once again
In the body of another.
Stagnant, stagnating,
Moss and lichen,
Vines which wrap and strangle
Until it stops everything,
Until immolation – a phosphorous grenade.
A light so bright
It will give eyes which finally see
After, only after
Blindness takes hold.