Dulcamara and The Hungry Wood

There’s a forest near the small town of Hemsborrow,

Where branches creak and eyes shine in the shadows,

Where vines climb over everything and reach toward the edge of the forest,

Tendrils grasping for the next thing to devourer,

Dulcamara used to live in that town,

She played near the edge of the wood,

Leaping out of the way of the brambles that would seek to trap her,

She danced through life,

Cocky and free,

Singing the verse; 

“The trees might bite, 

With their claws and their thorns,

But I'm too quick and clever,

I leap among their sorry trunks,

And giggle as I go, 

They reach for me with branches, 

but they’re always a second too slow!”

     One day as Dulcamara ran through the wood,

Humming a merry tune,

She tripped over a curving root,

And fell to the ground,

As she lay there helpless, 

A vine curled round her foot,

She gasped for breath and dug her claws, 

Deep into the ground,

But her efforts were futile,

As the branches entombed her,

And dragged her deep into the wood,

Dulcamara could do nothing,

All her protests were swallowed,

     The citizens of the town,

Reported her missing a week later,

For Dulcamara disappeared without a trace 

And left nothing in her wake,

And though it could never be proved, 

It always was suspected, 

That Dulcamara’s luck ran out, 

And it was the wood who had taken her,

“She always had it coming”,

The townsfolk whispered to one another,

“Playing so close to the wood,

And living with no fear of danger”,

 Somewhere deep inside the wood,

Dulcamara still stands watching,

Vines curled all around her,

A crown of brambles upon her head,

She was no longer alive but also not quite dead,

She had become a piece of the forest,

That she had so long managed to evade,

And If you listen closely,

On a long lonely night, 

You can hear the haunting echoes,

Of a rhyme sung long ago,

“The trees might bite, 

With their claws and their thorns,

But I'm too quick and clever,

I leapt among their sorry trunks,

And giggled as I went, 

They reached for me with branches, 

And if only I were more careful,

I might not have gotten caught”