Nothing So Prickly As Before Poem by Mark Heathcote

My appearance is a shadow
Of who I used to be
Like an old tree amongst saplings
I too have dispersed my leaves.
And have rewritten many
Dark chapters of who I used to be.
But still, I am alone.
Pretending to be wise and evergreen
And headstrong, pretending
I can be stoic and survive.

That winter is an apprenticeship.
And soon comes another spring.
I'll burst into intoxicating pink and white horse chestnut flowers.
nothing so prickly as before
And find my indomitable true self.
Loved above all else—once more.
But then comes the following fall.
Nothing has changed except
I'm not so bothered to rewrite
These dark chapters anymore

And realise my shadow is
The same as all the other shadows
And leaves that have gone before,
and I am not so alone
Or was I ever? Now wishing I could
Write a better chapter and close
My book on a happy, somewhat hereafter.