claws and thorns
teeth and leaves
bite into my lifeline
burrowing into the moss that covers my skin
nails and branches
wooden beaks and iron feathers
slip into my heart, coiled in leaves
the forest fills my marrow
absorbs the skin and drinks the eager flesh
resin oozes into blood puddles
claws and thorns
teeth and leaves
I sink into the night like roots in the damp earth
in the cold embrace of the midnight
so delightfully far from the light