The Forest by Maria Beben

One Poem Only · Dec 11, 2025 · 2m

The Forest

Maria Beben

We tasted the ache

like a familiar cocktail,

one we hoped

to never drink again.

We took a branch

that posed a danger

and added more kindling,

looking around for anything that would burn.

We gathered and added

until the branch became a forest

and we couldn’t see through

to the other side.

We felt betrayed

and confused

and didn’t understand how we got there.

We stood on opposite ends of this forest

and felt the weight

of a growing terror.

But at the exact moment

when we reached for a box of matches

to burn it all down,

we remembered that trees have branches

and began to…