lose your head.

You lost your head
as my father lost his
both painful,
and temporary.

Silver peeled from you,
bark lifting at the wound.

The shoots did not ask.
Is it time now
to reach for the sky?
No -

Shoots never ask.

I am left to watch,
feet buried in your earth,
roots knotted in your home.
As your headless body rises.

Each bud a nudge,
each branch a slap,
green mouths whispering:

When you lose your head,
grow another.