The Forest Poem by Jouri Frazer

Twas a bleak December night
As the stars were shining bright
And the moon was positioned highest in the darkened sky
And it’s in the moons gleaming light
That my dark tale of plight spreads it’s wings and starts to fly

Twas three hours past the stroke of nine
As I trekked through ice and pine
Through a forest whose frightening charms I can’t humanely define
The trees were bare and winter shaven
Filled with owls, and crows, and ravens
As they glared as gods upon their massive thrones

Down the path I trekked and trunched
The sticks and snow snapped and crunched
Sending soothing melody through the cold December air
Through the wood I walked humming
Amused by the birds going, and coming,
And their piercing hungry somewhat spiteful judging stares

Ah, this part I could never forget
Because at that time I had stopped to sit
For my legs had grown weary from marching through the forest floor,
And that’s when I felt a feeling, a simple little feeling
A feeling unlike that of any that I’ve ever felt before
A sinister omen of what the forest had in store

How can I describe this feeling?
It wasn’t shocking, burning, or steeling
But this simple little feeling was much too strong to just ignore
This feeling was just an essence
Of a dark and ghastly presence
That pierced the chilling air and surrounded the birds who hovered o’er

From that feeling a thought designed
The forest no longer smelled of pine
It smelled of death and smoke which mystified the December air
And through it all the foul-eyed fowls continued with their spiteful stares
My heart fluttered inside my chest as my legs pleaded to rest,
But my brain commanded me to run

I ran through the forest with all my might,
But the smoky haze dulled my sight
To a point beyond a natural affair
My weariness hindered me still
And I began to grow weak and ill
From breathing in the deathly forest air

As the demonic mist continued to blind me
I felt something creeping behind me
That’s when I through a punch with all the strength that I could find
As my fist flew through the mist
I knew my desperate punch had missed
And then a chilling touch sent shivers down my fragile spine

I fell downward paralyzed
Unable to see through my own eyes
As I lay nearly lifeless in the snow
When I heard their wings flapping
My solid will started cracking
It was the vicious cawing of the crows

As they swooped from the wooded depths
I knew that with them came my death
As I lay helpless in the snow and toxic haze
Their flapping wings blew gusts of wind
Drawing nigh my dreaded end
Upon which I couldn’t even gaze

They swarmed me with bloody intent
Oh the pain they did invent
Which I could feel even as I lay numb
I could still hear them cawing
Their sharpened beaks slashing and gnawing
Feasting as my systems went dumb

My fowl foes pecked and tore
There were dozens, hundreds, plus two more
They assaulted me with their bladed snouts
As the pain finally wore me out
A fate I wouldn’t wish on my worst foe
Was what I thought before passing out in the murky bloody snow

When I awoke there was nothing there
No birds, no blood, no toxic air
I thought that it was all a dream
But I realized nothing could seem as real as deaths glare
Even now I know it’s there…watching me with spite
Waiting to finish what it started on that cold December night.