Fairy Tale Woods

In the fairy tale woods where I live,

thick forests growing over and over grown,

on trails going deeper and deeper into the darkness,

Hansel and Gretel still drop their breadcrumbs,

a breadcrumb trail to find their way out,

find their way home; and still, as the tale is told,

the birds fly down, snatch away the crumbs

that mark their way, mark my way, too, through

these same woods, dark and overgrown, growing over,

fairy tale woods through which we all must pass,

on darkened trails going deeper and deeper,

holding hands, hand in hand, dropping crumbs

and finding ourselves, at last, at the witch’s door,

locked away and fattened, till tricking her we leave,

changed and moving on: one step closer, now,

to the happily-ever-after we seek, the journey’s end

away and through the fairy tale woods where I live.