The Bond

PrologueI am the woods. No. I am in…the woods… The woods are in me… Wood is…me. I am… Alone. Unafraid. I have lost everything. I have gained something. Trees, shadows, silence, I breathe in beginnings, exhale endings, alone except for animals, plants, earth… It wasn’t always this way. No, IT was always this way. I wasn’t always this way. I was a father. A man. Son. Husband. Farmer. The order doesn’t matter. * * * * There are ghosts, some are lost. She saw them; they—woman, girl…saw them. Ghosts. Dead. Chocolate. Choc… I remember sweet, because flowers are sweet. But chocolate, even the word feels strange, like a memory of something I knew, forget, remembered, lost again…it’s all leaves falling, branches reaching, roots grabbing, vines twisting over flesh, heart, lungs, skin…sin, and love…but I am not lonely. I am not afraid. In the heart of the forest I dwell, not live, dwell…there is a difference…and I wait. Patient is the earth. I am patience. And I wait…