The Death of Eden

The death of Eden
Lashes as a whip;
The wound is deep,
Red wells over the mountains
Lasts only a moment
Life fades from the world
We face the end-
Winter.

You take me to the mountains
Here, Summer is bleeding
The damp leaves cry silent tears as we brush past.
Winter has not yet come;
It waits on the verge of reckoning
The calm before the storm
The breath before the plunge.
The forest amplifies the silence as we walk;
Serene,
Striking,
Sacred.

A rich opulence bedecks our path
The bare trail hides,
Pauper in a masquerade.
As we penetrate its delicate facade
The wilderness resists;
Grasping,
Clawing,
Tearing.
We, the unwelcome strangers,
Come to gather withering rubies
With a shutter's eternal gaze.

We walk slowly back down the mountain;
I watch the path,
Sad to leave it behind
You watch me,
Your thoughts are your own.

Summer dies
Winter awaits
The sacred mountain stands beneath our feet
The forest overwhelms the senses

All of this,
And you.