Born when the forest learned to breathe, And the snow knew when to leave, She wove the bark of every tree, So the world could simply live, through what she’d weave. Baskets, boxes, hands in soil Tiny shapes to spark a smile If time broke something in its toil She would mend it, thread by thread, awhile The body started to decay Like tired wood worn thin But strand by strand she learned a way To turn herself into the path within Layer by layer, she rebuilt What the cold tried hard to claim She never wished to be remade She just wanted to remain Even broken, even still Even choosing not to flee To exist, though changed by will Is an act of resistance, to be No war, no warning, no alarm Just the world refusing sound Families left arm in arm One by one, without a glance around The forest froze, a book unread A story locked in place She stayed because she always knew Someone had to hold that space The body started to decay Like tired wood worn thin But strand by strand she learned a way To turn herself into the path within Layer by layer, she rebuilt What the cold tried hard to claim She never wished to be remade She just wanted to remain Even broken, even still Even choosing not to flee To exist, though changed by will Is an act of resistance, to be Her eyes closed tight from memory Not from fear of what might end Her tears became like crystal streams So she would not break or bend “I will not see, I will not dry My tears until the world can change” She whispered to the ice, the time With no one there to hear the pain Now she guards what still survives Of a world held in suspense Those who pass think stone stands there But she is feeling, tense She feels the cold, she feels her form She feels the weight of being here Even silent, even torn She chose resistance over fear
