The Wood

The Wood
Sonnet 1

My stomach churns as the dark wood trembles.
My companion whispers to my right.
Don’t be seen or heard, I dare remember.
You need but silence to survive this night.

Those shadows could be men, poised for attack.
Or they could be branches and ferns and leaves.
Perhaps wild beasts sizing up their next snack
Lord only knows what awaits in these trees.

On my inner seam presses my hunter’s blade,
Sharpened to kill and just within my reach.
Only I know what in these trees awaits
A hard-earned lesson I was sent to teach.

A secret concealed if just to survive:
Only one will leave this forest alive.