you feed on my abundance
exploit rich wells beneath my ribs
while I swaddle your fallen hold them in my earthy cradle
my crust ripples in the heat of the forest
the peat-stripped moor
you dissect me valve by valve
defoliate fields
furlongs stripped to evaluate ‘real’ estate
not once do you test the depth of my grave
my grief is buried deep
you follow each thread
pulmonary mitral
slicing through the atriums of dormancy
even at the point of slaughter
my tenderness
rains in a glory
of the symmetry of cells
watch how capillaries with the weight of air
twist to the bone
my cracks
are dead white threads no chinks of light
oceans poisoned forests felled valleys ruined
no balm can ease my suffering
I wait for you to find
my stowaway heart
the one that is your heart too