When I loved you

I dream of you lately, it's a slow burner -
There's been you
and there's been I, in my innocence, upon roads we actually walked
and the paths woven gently in my mind as what ifs.

I dream of you lately, yet it's a dread -
There's a knot
in the stomach of a girl, weak inside the body of a warrior,
who whimpers for how easily she was wounded.

I dream of you lately, and wake again screaming -
When I loved you,
when we were younger, this dread existed,
grew entwined roots that still live deep, deep beneath this thriving tree.