Defiance

One night she walked under the pines, disorientated After he’d dumped her by the roadside Barefoot, bloodied, bruised, half naked But with an un-nurtured purpose, she casually strode She heard the leaves in the canopy above her head They were commanding her: 'go home, you’re hurt' But she walked She caught the scent of a young juniper shoot Full of feminine promise and possibilities She recoiled, sick It did not tell the truth She felt strangely liberated in the spotlight of the moon Her feet felt the prick of pine needles on the forest floor ‘You shouldn‘t be alone, you’re hurt’ they said And another: ‘turn back, the world is a better place than you think’ Yet she looked down at her crotch, violated, and felt the pain of a thousand knives She walked Her posture now more resolute she passed into a circular clearing There, her head rose to acknowledge a lone redwood A giant of the forest Erect, its veins reached up its long, hard shaft And spread wider as it opened into a bulbous head It seemed to grow taller as she approached And she felt its fluttering leaves, foreboding and fierce But she walked She walked to the base of the redwood There, she paused for a moment Determined to enjoy her last dregs of the feeble-fresh air Before she went, somewhere Not quite the dreams of the feminists, this world she thought casually, under the light of the liberating moon Not quite the dream as she took something from her pocket And squatted She lit it