A phantom limb
I feel your pain
gone
and dead.
I walk with a limp
now four years
a broken limb
ripped from my trunk
weathered
wormed
worn
gone
and dead.
A limb warm still
beating
and bursting golden
into a sky
ready to burst with tears
still
rustling
through my fingers.
A limb that lives
within
beneath the bark
decay smells
like life
as I breathe in
your fall
his ashes safe
within
your roots.
A limb so beautiful
carried
with pride
by this tree
I will
to live
keep alive
my phantom limb
scarred
but mine.
A lost limb I love
life awakened
life changed
life once whole
life suffered
life survived
life witnessed
life remembered
life a treasure
alive
in my heart.
All text and photography © Dale Schierbeck
…. more of my original Poetry on EatsWritesShoots here.
