Strix

Oh king of owls what do you know

In those moments of blowing snow

Oh king of owls what do you see?

Off in the distance, inside of me.

Beyond the trees beyond the light

There is a spreading world of night

Within us all there is a shade

That sees beyond this charade

In the distance machines are in motion

They rise as tides out of the ocean

They are coming, to take the trees  

To bring the forest to its knees

They come with saws, they come with fire

They come to claim some desire

But why I ask, would they do this?

There is something quite remiss

To feel whole again, in the dark

As though they have lost their spark.

They want our hearts, they want our soul

They believe that it will make them whole

King of owls speak what you know

Warn the forest of where this will go 

Would they listen, even at all?

When have they acted upon my call?

Triumphant in the silent dark

The trees stand tall and stark

Where darkness lives in all I know

There too, must the forest grow.

Within the creatures and the trees

Inside those men in those machines.

The forest grows in a space

That I know that they can’t place

It grows against them, near their heart

When they are naked in the dark

When they cannot shed their tears

When they cannot face their fears

But I know it’s there, of that I’m sure

& in that place they’ll find the cure

That it’s nothing of light and dark

It’s not about making a mark—

Where there is so much more to see

In these moments when they are free

In the shadows of our thoughts

Of all the fears that are caught

The forest lives within you and I

In the scenes when we must fly

Where all seems lost and undone

the future is, not yet won.

No matter what they take from us

Within time, the world is just

The trees will spread again and grow

Rest assured, this I know.