Aokigahara - The Suicide Forest

Aokigahara - The Suicide Forest

Aokigahara, “Sea of Trees,”
collects the souls lost to despair.
Its siren call offers reprise
when life becomes too much to bear.

Shoes placed neatly line the path
I wander in the muted light.
Each pair a silent epitaph
to those who chose an endless night.

A whisper crying from the past;
a spectral shape that fades from view
deep in the woods. No shadows cast
from branches seemingly askew.

The pungent smell of age and rot
hangs in the air, lays on the tongue.
A weathered rope, its fraying knot
collapsed below where once it hung.

Hidden ‘neath the bloated ground,
reminders of each victim’s loss
lie undisturbed, no longer bound,
slowly decaying in the moss.

I feel the Bōrei1 watching me,
each face a mask of agony.
Their empty eyes, their silent plea,
asking me to set them free.

The air turns cold. I see my breath.
I feel their hands reach futilely
to claim a moment’s pause from death.
Thus will it be eternally.

The sun shines brightly overhead
but cannot breach the canopy.
There is no relief for the dead,
only unending misery.

I stumble back into the light,
the journey has taken its toll.
Released from the forest’s blight
I seek to heal my wounded soul.

An entry for the June round of "Spirits at Lighthouses Contest" 
Prompt: Forest image
Form: End Rhyme ABAB
Line Count: 36

Aokigahara   is a real place.

Footnotes
1  Ruined or departed spirit thought to be barred from a peaceful afterlife