Once There Was a Tree

Once there was a tree with sturdy branches

Olive branch

Executive branch

Branch out

Once there was fruit dropping at the end of the branch

Red soil yields strange fruit

Bitter fruit

Rotten fruit

Fruit flies

Once there was a limb at the end of the brand

Limp limb

Broken limb

Dead limb on a living tree

There were flowers at the end of the tree.

Flowers on a graveside

Open grave

Unmarked grave

Unmapped land, without zip code or address.

At the end of the flowers the blood

The blood, cries

The blood bleeds out

The blood asks: what have you done?