BURN (Wattys2015?)

the deer/antelope and the boy

grey as something that should be long dead

but somehow survived horrors and tragedies

that no one would want to see in a play,

stands a frail and willowy child

small and unafraid

the fog causes the forest to be devoid of light

except for the eerie glow of the time before dawn

when the world wants to wake up

but has to wait on the sun to rise

the boy inhales the fog

grey and lifeless as himself

and the boy exhales the fog

little puffs of a cold warmth

he can't even tell where the ground begins

it's dark and gloomy and as foggy as the sky

but he can see the trees

their grey branches shivering out like feathers

from a dying bird

standing tall

and regal

the unquestionable king of this forest

an antelope--

or deer--it doesn't really matter--

towers twenty feet above him

it is everything the boy is not:

strong, graceful, tall, powerful--

and more than one shade of grey

the antelope makes no sound

but creeps close and stares at the boy

unafraid

and the boy stares back

the antelope could kill the boy at any moment

it could take a sharp and lethal antler--horn?--

as black as the shadows

and plunge it through the boy's quivering and dying heart

but the antelope doesn't display aggression

or any intention to impale the boy

instead it just stares

it's eyes lost to the blur of it's face

and the boy stares back

his eyes lost to time and the smudge of memories

and he wonders

how an antelope could ever grow so big

and the antelope wonders

how a boy could ever be so small

and the boy realizes that no antelope could ever grow so big

and the antelope realizes that no boy could ever be so small

and they both decide the other one

is a figment of their imagination

and imaginary friend with no name and no true face

just a mask of a dulling black or dirtied white

a dull and grey hallucination

and the boy, small and fragile and unafraid

and the antelope, tall and regal and unafraid

realize just how alone they are

and how lonely the forest is

at this time of morning

before the world wakes

the antelope gallops off

gracefully and unquestionably the king of this forest

and the boy lies down

small and fragile and unnoticeable to anyone

because they wouldn't be able to tell where the ground begins

and the boy ends

and they both feel terribly alone