Forestspeak

Hemmed in by tangled trees,

wrangling with feelings

twined by unkind deeds

I hear nearby

the woodpecker knocks

a rat-a-tat rhythm

alerting

the heart

to another beat;

the small birds flirt

with whirr and cracking

seeds and chirp;

and the leaf frond

at my face

has holes in its foliage –

the result here not of unkindness,

but also, after all,

of a lesser creature’s need.

                                                23^rd May 2015

 - Silke Heiss