Hand in hand, you and me,
Scaling the rotting bark of your elm tree,
Upwards you laugh, Upwards I cry,
Green foliage seeping, swarming, smothering my clear sky,
Hand in hand, me and you,
The ground and morals far below becoming askew,
Let’s go, I plead, Let’s go, you sing,
Heart inside my chest pulsating, hammering, ears drowning in a ghostly ring,
Hands clawing, clutching my wrist,
ensnared by arms of flesh and wood,
Stop it, I sob, Stop it, you insist,
Bark splintering into naked skin, worming, penetrating, drawing blood where I stood,
Hands dethatched, scraping at your frame,
Solid floor starting to quiver under my weight,
Get away! I howl, Get away! You exclaim,
Branches beginning to shiver, cracking, splitting, a brush of fingers too late,
Hands wailing in the hollow air,
Mouth agape, breached by hair,
Downwards I shriek, Downwards you yell,
Two figures plummeting, hurtling, ricocheting off ligneous limbs as they fell,
Hand in hand, you and me,
Concealed in the shadow of your decaying elm tree,
Unspoken words humming through bodies, collaged in between the weeds,
Our eyes unable to preserve the fleeting sheen, slowly, as life bleeds,
Hand in hand me and you,
Just us two,