I stare upon the limbs below;
roughened rungs that guide the way
To know the bark has twist and grown
from where my footprints used to stray.

Like a raven's eyes and worldly sight
I understand what's more than shown
A crossroad's path; wrong and right
A future now that picks my bones.

I ascend these branches that once held tight;
a brazen child who held all the world.
These steps I take, so familiar in sight
Yet lost and missing that joyous girl

Depression reminds nothing is right
It seeps slowly through my veins
Constricting and constraining without a fight.
For only in the past is there no pain

The memories rustle with the leaves below,
their scattering innocence spinning away
I hear my childhood dreams, with go;
Old laughter lost beneath limb's sway

Yearning visions of a self yet grown

I step forth towards the memory's light

Release of all the pain once known

The rope had never held so tight.

In memory of Mariellle Janice Irene.
Who just wanted the painless days of her past...
May you find your peace.