Lesson of symbols,
unforeseen.
Our youth, naive
and evergreen..
seeks signs
where there are
none to find.
Mere needles
on a branch
of pine.

Like straws
in darkness,
grasped by blind.
Death gripping
prickliness
outside.
Punctured
by pressure,
led to bleed.
The song of
broken arteries.

In time,
the blood
coagulates.
Scar tissue
forms to fill
the space.
Silence of flesh,
where once
sang wounds..
becomes
our memory
of youth.