Message for Papa Bois

Father, whose forest
I have left
Forsaken this place
But not the loft
Of its ideals

Fled I from my home
Not for hate as you think,
But love, who’s sweet voice
I still thank
For the song she sung me

Long time
As humans measure,
A hunter met
The forest master

Who decreed
For his crime, to pay
With his life
And the hunter knew despite his plead,
The forest he would never leave

The gentle woods
Needs a savage protector
But the savage woods
Needs a gentle heart
Am I wrong Father,
To play that part?

The forest had taught me strength
Its creatures taught me mercy
And the hunter in the shadow of death
Did teach my heart pity

So on the twilight,
Before his last day,
My power I used
To spirit us away

And from that time
We two,
In human world
Came to know
The echoes of love's song

Alas, did I come to know
That immortal heart
Could not fathom mortal doom
Too soon, too soon!
Cruel Reaper did
Force us two to part
Broken now Father,
Is your daughter's heart

But leave him still
I could not,
Though this human form
I did cast off

Changed now,
I am
My roots reach down
Into the earth where my beloved does sleep
And from my boughs rains tears of pink
To mark his grave when I weep

I stand forever by his side,
And hope the birds would tell
That not for hate but for love
Left you, your daughter
Immortelle.

(c)Geeta Boodansingh, 2011