In the end it didn’t matter how it started
Once the path stretched out before you
there was no stopping your descent
Twists and turns were part of the fun
Then the path split in two
then four
on and on until you forgot which way you’d come
but it didn’t matter anymore
You never intended to return
Not really
You left breadcrumbs
just in case someone went looking for you
but it was the middle of ant season
and they swarmed over any trace of you
You were so busy staring at the ground
you didn’t notice how the trees crowded in
until their leaves blocked out the sun completely
and it was too dark to see the path anymore
But it didn’t matter
because you didn’t want to leave just yet
You could finally hear your own thoughts
in the silence
The cold shivered into your lungs
and wrapped around your bones
until you were whole again
You didn’t know how far you’d wandered
off the path
but it didn’t matter anymore
Your fingers brushed the damp moss
and traced patterns in the bark
and you knew you were finally at home
You could be alive or dead
for all you cared
Nobody would know the difference
They would never find the body
Once your feet grew weary
you rested against a tree trunk
and closed your eyes
Eventually your head tilted over
and sank into the fallen leaves
You were one with the forest now
It inhaled as you exhaled
Until your lungs gave out
and then your heart
and you were still
as the ants crawled over you
and the worms crawled into you
Until the forest had swallowed you whole
and you could feel the sunlight through the leaves again
and you passed on a whisper to the first gust of wind
to let them know you were finally free
This is a great poem. The structure of the sentences almost have a wandering feel to them, which reflects the content of the poem. I like the repeated phrase of “but it doesn’t matter”.