Old Growth

-------Old Growth-------

 

The darkness did not come into my life,

but rose up through

when I began to stray from magic.

 

Mystery and wonder and play

taught away

by a colonizer's education.

 

There was no room for loneliness

in the old growth forest 

of a child's mind

 

All the light was used for lovely things

like make believe

and flowers.

 

Despair has tried 

to cut me down,

turn my dreams to lumber

 

But this tree 

has roots much deeper 

than I thought

 

And stories

before conquest

to re-member.

 

And so I have chosen

not to look away

or turn my back upon the darkness

 

But acknowledge it as invitation

to lean in

closer toward the light.

 

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