When I Die

The darkness came, and covered her soul
She spoke of it often, about letting it in from the cold
About the sounds it made
Pulling its sword and its blade
From its shadowy side
And so her world went up in flames
Consuming her skin and hands
Her body lifted from the floor
Into the ashes that would feed the core
Of the cherry tree we’ll plant next door
She’ll forever weep in the rain and snow
And reach with blossoms to the floor
Endlessly a part
Of everything it will live for

In that darkness we’ll speak, brush aside the leaves and weep
Of lives she touched and wounds so steep
She balanced it all and still managed to sleep
We might open up her story then
And read the parts she kept locked until when
Her body billowed in the breeze
Every spring on fresh new leaves
We’ll know her secrets dark and deep
And stain the pages with tears as we weep
We didn’t know
Her life was so
Endlessly torn apart
All we knew
Was her golden heart