POETRY

The Lake Of Guilt

“In the Forest of Mistakes, a murder of crows part their sharp beaks to shriek…”

In the Forest of Mistakes,

a murder of crows part their sharp beaks to shriek a melody of discontent,

heaps of broken mirrors remain tethered to the ground,

antique phones await the calls that never came,

and a swarm of black feathers fall like sullen petals,

as a welcome

for the lucky few who are found.

This time around, it is a poor Elizabeth who has lost herself inside the nightmarish woodland.

An array of dying trees, abandoned carriages wrecked clocks, and torn up pages adorn her slice of the forest.

Hints of moonlight glitter in between perishing olive leaves; revealing the same engraved phrase on each sorry leaf:

Young fool: The canopy of your mind decays every day, for these branches of regret are too intertwined.

Elizabeth, ever so evasive, opts to avoid these wise leaves;

Her mind reels as she searches desperately for an escape.

Fatigued, she finally reaches a dim oasis;

The girl dips her frail hands on a cold, dark lake.

Her sigh of relief soon breaks,

as a force pulls her into these ravenous waters.

The girl feels her heart sink with the rest of her body;

A sensation all too familiar.

Elizabeth’s face wilts, for she’s reached

the Lake of Guilt.

Thank you for reading! Loved writing this one. Did you know a group of crows is called a murder? (Hence the second line of this piece)

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