i felt you first
among frost and rain
your breath soft
and warm
you did not cling
only leaned
listened
tasted
the birds did not notice
but i did
the almost touch
the slow spin
i let you stay
before i knew your name
you climbed
returning again
and again
you mapped me with your fingers
took the long way
vein against vein
your body became my second skin
beneath us
our roots found one another
twisting in the dark
not separate
not the same
but growing
from the same hunger
the world arrived
drawn by what we had become
birds nested in us
sang to each in our branches
mated in our quiet
laid eggs in our hollows
bees drank from your silver stars
lingering in the folds of green
gathering what sweetness
we could not bear to contain
they circled us for days
forgot their way home
the air turned sweet and thick
we could no longer wait
higher
closer
upwards
and down
inward
deeper
bark softly cracked
to let you in
and you filled the break
with embrace
in time fruit came
and ripened
late and bittersweet
i never bore such fruit
until you
now even the wind
tastes of us
sap bled
where you pushed through
bark split
to take you deeper
the places you entered
wept sweetness
heavy with you now
split open
dripping
the fruit we made
swollen on my branches
above
eggs cracked
small wings
beating in our air
before they flew
and below
my leaves fell in spirals
laid themselves down
without regret
to feed the hunger to come
in the hollows
slow dripping gold gathered
what the bees made
from what we do not know
i hear you hum
in the hollows of my bark
you fill me
with stories
of your climb
until the stories quieted
we do not speak now
we do not move
birds rest in us
lovers seek refuge in our shadow
my branches bare
your leaves still hold
wrapped tightly around us
through the cold
i was once alone
now we speak the same voice
sap that sings
breath that roots
stillness that blooms
undone
remade
hollowed
whole
this is the season of sleep
where roots dream
waiting for light to return
so we can dance again
snow falls on our shoulders
but we do not shiver
< The Loom
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