Beneath the Dule Trees

I close my eyes

Drift off to sleep

Float away

To a far away place

Where the night never ends

Yet the stars never shine

Walking a path

Lined with dule* trees

Ropes hanging from long dead boughs

And each tree named

After a regret

A failure

A trauma from my past

Every demon living inside me

And as I walk this path

Beneath the dule trees

I wonder

Which rope will it be

I finally tie around my neck

Until I come across a different tree

Alive

Still bearing leaves

And your name upon it

But instead of a rope

I see you

Reaching down a hand

For me to take

And climb with you

Above the canopy

And into the light

 

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Response to the Word of the Day Challenge prompt: rope

 

*In Britain dule (or dool) trees were used as gallows. Both the Scottish and Middle English origins of the name mean either ‘sorrow,’ ‘grief’ or ‘mental distress’