What did you do?

When the jokes arose

Like smoke burning where a fire once stood

Dark and thick, choking even the brightest lights?

You laughed, you agreed.

Tall and proud, how orange flames roar

Ash now twinkling like a summer’s rain

And brushed it off your shoulders with a grin

What did you do?

When gnarled lines twisted

Up the tree and down the branches

Sap slowly seeping through open cracks?

You climbed up the branch

And picked each leaf off one by one

Because when spring comes again, they’ll grow back

And winters are meant to be bare

What did you do?

When they insisted it was okay

Even as lines kept twisting?

You still believed the words they spoke were a joke

Hidden behind fading grins and laughter that lingered too long

It was just a joke

Even as the fire spread to their sleeves

You warmed your hands beneath the flames with a grin

Marveling at its beauty

They laughed, swearing it didn't burn

But you felt the heat, saw the edges blacken—

Still, you turned away, watching from a safe distance

Told yourself: fire like that always dies down

It was just a joke

That’s what you tell yourself

Even as a body is dragged from the smoke

A mother screaming into her husband’s arms

Wailing for the soul of her child

A soul you could’ve freed

What have you done?

Light drains where life once lay

Red pools where silence settles

The smoke is cleared and the fire is gone

Because this spring, the leaves couldn’t grow back