This Lonesome Trail

This Lonesome Trail

This lonesome trail once held great life

It saw both creatures great and small

Fox, doe, coyote, coon, bear, mouse

Yet now this trail is old and worn

No prints can be seen

The trees have shrunk back from this tired trail

Even the wind won’t touch it

Such sadness fills my heart to look upon this dust

Dried leaves lay crushed in the wake of time

A feather slowly falls to meet the battered soil

May the blight upon this land take my soul!

My knees shake, my chest tightens, and I fall to the ground

It is not the torture of time that ravages this trail

It is not the will of the Earth

This is the mark of man

The most fearsome beast of all

                                          - Piper Quinn