Old Lover

The floor of the forest,
deep with rotting leaves,
receives the falling tree
like a woman takes a lover back.
The wood infuses into humus
as insects colonize the gaps
and moss and lichens infiltrate
and pull the brittle limbs
into the steamy womb of earth.
She swallows his seed
and soothes his death
whispering in his final dreams
a promise of new life.