DEATH Poem: The Little Ash Tree, by Ashley Diaz

The wind blows, rocking my boy
Swaying from the bough
Take the cloth to cleanse
Fill the basin, spilling out
Just a glance to see you
Watching the cradle fall

Little birds from their nests that fall
To ashes they become, dear boy
But you know this, don’t you?
One with the bough
Krampus demands sins out
Craving more than blood to cleanse

The innermost parts do lashes cleanse
Do righteous men rise when they fall?
From His throne He did not cry out
“Do not lay hands on this boy!”
Like His son on the bough
Though now God won’t take you

Did I fail you?
So eager to cleanse
The clock’s longest bough
But five to fall
My lovely, my boy
My soul pours out

I scream damned spot, out!
Though not availing you
How did I miss this boy?
Pleading Lord this burden do cleanse
No. Instead, I let him fall
Let him swing from the bough

Do I cut you from the bough?
Disrupt your way out
Save you from your fall
Lest Krampus take you
My touch too weak to cleanse
I cry out to the Lord save my boy

He cuts the bough, not for my boy
But out of greed he does cleanse
Our child’s fall. Though I am no mother for you…