Dry Wood

written by: Ricky Hawthorne

@searsjames

Witless, winding through a frosty
Forest, my way, suddenly, blocked by a pair
Of wooden slippers, sodden
Through the cool morning rain
Side by side they stood, alien, belonging
Not here
Surely better found beneath
The fleshy folds of a
Soft duvet, slid back by warm tender toes
Not shaken from slumber and
Forsaking surety, transported to this copse
Wretched orphans wrapped in a
Nightmare, pursuing the cradle

Intrigued I sought a narrative
Worthy of such baseless abandonment;
A supremely subtle but unfathomable
Denouement
A justification or conspiracy that
Could entrap these innocents

Were those fleece-lined cross bands where feet
Once slept, snug and safe,
Soiled by rancorous tears?
What empty soul swaddled in
Loss, reflected here,
Prepared for eternity but
Discovered instead, a magical doorway
Beckoning them hither, offering
A kinder escape
From bitterness to light?

But sadly I saw no Tardis
No DeLorean, nor even a
Stargate.
Their untold history was and
Still remains simply beyond my ken…
Beyond my ken