From The Trees

-From The Trees-
by Keaton Foster


From the trees
There is a scream
Less human
More beast
Less calming
More terrifying
I don’t move
I refuse
Ten yards in front
Deep is the forest
Nighty yards back
Expansive is the meadow
The safety of home
Far from this place
Those that I love
Even further away
I am more alone
Than ever before
From the trees
Again it shrieks
To me it calls out
Come closer
Step into my throat
So that I may consume
All that you are
Or could ever hope to be
Fate has brought you to me
Even if you flat out refuse
Despite any effort to flee
This here and now
Is all about you and me
Step closer and you’ll see
Step closer and you’ll believe
From the trees
After such words
It lets out another scream
Less human
More beast
Less calming
More terrifying
Overcome by choice
I decide to turn back
In an attempt to flee
Certain that I’ll make it
Sure that the further I run
The longer I will come to live
The first step is followed
By several more
Just as my heart fills
Just as my mind ponders
I’m sure that I’ll make it
From the trees
Leaps
A great and powerful beast
What is several steps for me
Is just a quick few for it
Its body slams into mine
Knocking me to the ground
Knocking my senses wild
I’m on my back
Facing straight up
Scrambling for thoughts
Struggling to embrace logic
Fighting myself to define
What is quite certainly real
Standing over me
Is the beast
From the trees
Its eyes
Furious and red
Its teeth
Both pointed and worn
Its fur
Darker than ever before
It hands
As big as any mans
Its claws
Pointed and stained
It looks down at me
Studying each detail
With clarity and precision
Its further adds
I warned you
I assured you that fate
Is what is in charge here
And that any attempt to flee
Would be quite pointless
This day and this place
Has always been
About you and I
From the trees
I’ve come for you
Back into the darkness
I will now take you
In that maddening place
I will always keep you
Nothing you could say
Nothing you could do
Will change any of this
So don’t
It grabs my legs
And it begins to drag me off
Into all that it has promised
Into all that it has assured me
Fate has long since had in store
From the trees
It has come for me
Regardless of what I wish
Of what I desire most
With such a beast I must go
I am
And have always been
Just too weak
Just too frail
To put up a fight
When it has mattered most
This time won’t be different…


From The Trees
Written by Keaton Foster Copyright © 2014.