Deep in a forest

Nearly untouched

Where silence was reigning

And wind had been hushed

Stood a tree

In the center

With arms all outfolded

The life-force of them

Each one she was holding

Tiny bugs, swelling lights

Illumined the branches

And music could be heard

From sprightly jig dances

Light as a wisp

Were the fairies in habitat

While their tiny swift wings

Sounded rat-a-tat-tat

“Follow us down, into the heart”

The spirits echoes resounded

So in my curiosity I followed

As images astounded

Deeper and deeper

Pulling vines from my face

When suddenly I arrived

Where time transforms space

Colors danced first to and then fro

Soft greens and creamy hues

While suspended soft white lanterns

Floated delicately as morning dew

Then startled like a stag

As the hunter comes in season

I dropped quickly to the earth floor

As a satyr sprang forth like one in treason

“Dost thou inhale the honeysuckle blossoms?”

Whispered he softly in my trembling ear

“Follow me deeper in, deeper in

Deeper in, my dear”

I looked up into his eyes

But I didn’t see a color

For reflected in them

Was me

Much older, but no other

In my hand

I held a key

With an inscription

I tried to read in haste

But when the satyr blinked

It vanished out of space

And though I’d been taught not to talk to strangers

I felt I had unanswered questions

So I obliged his helping hand

And prepared myself for an arduous riding session

Fast as a whistle

We flew through forest, thick and green

I turned to look back

Until a thorn within my cheek

Led me to yield a whimpering scream

But soon enough we had arrived

And he lifted me lightly to the ground

He smiled and pointed one direction

And when I turned around

He was gone

And all remaining

Was a tiny copper key

With an inscription that merely read

“Remember the pieces of me”

I tied it round my neck

And set off in search of the voices

“Come here, this way…”

They beckoned

And this time they were much closer

For within a few short moments

I felt the forest slowly swaying

Like a beating of the heart

I stepped off a ledge, fell through many leaves

Then landed with a thud and a little start

And here she was, the tree I’d dreamed of

But never thought was true

And sitting at her base, a boy

With eyes of turquoise-blue

“The nymph spirits and I have been waiting”

I heard him kindly say

He drew me in like gravity

Though I had no reply to make

He kissed my hand

Then touched my braided hair

“Would you care to live forever,”

He asked in anticipation

“Who doesn’t,” my lips were moving

Though with somewhat hesitation

I began to hear familiar voices

Calling out from everywhere

But my eyes could not look away

From his intoxicating stare

And as he opened up the tree

I saw another world beyond

“Eternity is waiting”

If I chose to come along

I unlatched his hand for a moment

Only to step a few feet to the clearing

Where I unfastened the key from my necklace

And ignored the voices I was hearing

For I knew that they would always wonder

With whom and where I had gone

Though I had always told them

Like this, I couldn’t carry on

So in a fascinating world I transcended

Where grace flowed in many streams

Joy enveloped my being

I lived as a dreamer of dreams

And when, at last, they came to that clearing

Where I abandoned the life that I knew

They found the trinket I had left them

Though it merely held a clue

And I know they would not have approved

Because at the same level, our eyes never did see

I left them with one will and testament…

“Remember the pieces of me.”

~leah marie