A strange beast hides amongst the trees
waiting                            patiently
while the world –
                     the world grows around it.
Cradling it,
in flora             and                     fauna,
until that darkness
                                   is
                                       unrecognizable
…only the foul stench remains.

Above,
            the clouds break-
                                            the sun stretches again,
the errant thought of that rot abandoned
                                                  to the weeds,
the corruption it hides
                        left in the soil

far beneath.
                       The day continues with a calm wind…

A late summer afternoon will find
many friends in the forest-
                                                weaving through the green
in    waves   of shadow and tufts of grass;
The harsh sun
                        a gentle hand reaching
through the canopy
            combing the coat of the earth.

It pauses a moment
when brushed against that malignance;

that strange beast that hides amongst the trees
born of those it never sees