A Poem About Cold Hearts
Her cloak is a stark drop of blood
Racing across winter’s ground
It’s all too quiet
Once the cacophony of
Needles
And nettles
The forest carpet
Would have heralded her arrival
Now there’s only a soft crunch
The witch is at first unkind
When the girl arrives at her doorstep
No time to grant wishes
For doe-eyed women who should’ve known better
For noble girls who’d shouldn’t tarry
No time at all
The girl is begging
Viper-under-flower
Please
You and I both know how the law
Stretches us thin
Brushes us out
Help me
The witch consents
Brews the remedy
Cures the malady
Old woman’s heart not too wicked
To refuse a shivering girl
In the winter wild
But loh
Loh!
What lies are told by shivers
When men with shoes shined
So black you can see eternity stretch out
Come knocking at her door
What anguish
When kin and countenance turn against her
When township tries to tear her up
Wicked witch
There is nothing bear can do for her,
In the end
Nothing marten or rabbit
Can do either
But they marvel
At how beastly the men act
How they cut down oaks
long before their prime
How they destroy everything that heals
The creatures shake their heads
But what can be done?
Such things happen
Land and hearts grow cold
And winter is the time when everything dies
Atira C. © 2020. All rights reserved.
