The Ribbon and the Roots

The Ribbon and the Roots

In the heat of the desert where silence is deep,

I buried my joy where the shadows now sleep.

A tree stood in witness, its limbs stretched wide,

Wrapped in red ribbons where truth tried to hide.

Each bow tied tightly was laced with regret,

A memory wrapped I could never forget.

You carved out a promise, then left it to fade,

Like love in the sun, it withered, betrayed.

The sand held your footprints, now gone with the wind,

A cruel kind of magic where lies never end.

I traced them to nothing, to the edge of my pain,

Where echoes of laughter now howl like the rain.

The ribbon you tied slid down to the ground,

A serpent of velvet, no comfort it found.

It coiled ’round my ankles, it whispered your name,

Then choked out the light with its silken shame.

A heart made of ribbon, shaped tight in the dust,

Mocked all my dreams and turned them to rust.

Its center was hollow, its edges were sharp,

It bled without bleeding, it sang in the dark.

The tree didn’t tremble, it knows how to wait,

Its bark bears the secrets of love turned to hate.

I screamed at the sky, but it swallowed my voice,

Cruelty, not kindness, was always your choice.

No ending was written, just a fading refrain,

Of ribbons and ruin and salt in the rain.

I stayed in the desert, with nothing to mend,

Some stories are meant to have no end.

So let the red ribbon decay where it fell,

A tether to heartbreak, a root straight to hell.

Not every tear gets a reason or rhyme,

Some just keep falling, forgotten by time.