A Year and Again

Last summer was a reawakening.
This summer has been a revelation.

Throughout the summer last my spirit grew,
Awakened by a drop of coloured dew.
The dormant seed of spirits sprouts; once sprung,
Every breath that's drawn pushes hope into my lungs.

But the roots of the tree from whence I fell like vines constrict the shoot,
And summer sprigs wilting wither under poisoned autumn fruit.

Deadly nightshade drips onto my hands.
I'm holding the axe and my knuckles blossom like lilies
While my wrists bloom roses.

And a year of torment waxes and wanes
As a giant moon reddened by my veins
Rises in the sky, ever higher.
I am desperate for the zenith, for what follows is the nadir.

Nothing is real.
Slipping away.
Back again.
Where have I been?

A sudden release, an explosion of fire tinted with black faceless ghouls from the past
Clears my mind and I'm free.
I've liberated my petals and leaves from the clutches of the snaking roots,
But I'll never recover the moisture. 

I'm ever-thirsty like swamp ash growing in a barren desert.
The bleakness of my life is startling,
And yet I've known it all along.

I'm still waiting for the nadir of this cursed stellar body,
So that another drop of dew might glimmer in the new dawn.