BATTLE ZONE

The woods were thick…or so I
thought,
For a child’s mind sees all
things loom,
And so it was back in the day
When in the woods was my
playroom.

The flowers beckoned, berries,
too,
And in the quiet heart was
stilled;
Away I ran from teenage pain,
Where in those woods the tears
were spilled.

I’d sit upon a hollow log
And listen to the songbirds sing,
And as my mind and heart grew
still,
I felt the joy that comes in
spring.

Children, as well as adults know,
You can’t stay hidden behind
trees,
For life demands we face straight
on…
The strife in life that bends the
knees.

I see those woods as sparser now,
But still not so the battles
then,
That placed this child in the
midst
Of a war…again…again.