“I am Charcoal”

Sometimes things get lost in the shuffle of life - here’s a poem from late 2023! It is inspired by loss, love, how tree charcoal is made and what it’s like to draw with charcoal itself.

…..

I Am Charcoal

Aftermath of an airless inferno
no longer the tree
you knew yourself to be
gone are your leafy green arms
celebrating the sky
face to the sun
now fallen
charred
smoldering
one with the ground
for endless days memories wander
grieving among the ruins of what once was

Love comes
seeking you
undeterred by destruction
strong hands extend
inviting yours

you turn away
unable 
unwilling to see beyond sorrow
so changed you are
unrecognizable
altered completely
by fire
by suffocation

Love waits
with heart open
till you are ready
softly singing
that endings are also beginnings
my beloved

one day

someday

you’ll take Love’s hands
step in to welcome
to embrace
be gathered up into a gentle dance
circling together
sweeping over wide stones
each slow turn 
drawing
creating
new lines
a new arc
of unseen wonder
of what will be.

---

Published in Motif Sketchbook: Origins, December 2023