The Family in the Woods by Odi Welter

There once was a family who lived

in a house on the edge of a lake

full of trees instead of water,

who locked themselves in a fairytale

they didn’t know they were telling.

There once was father who braved

the outside world to make shoes

that kept danger walking away,

who told his children stories about

everything but where he came from.

There once was a mother who taught

her children about the world outside

the fortress she had built,

who protected them from the monsters

trying to poison them away from her.

There once was a brother who had

a heart that had to be wound up like a music box

in case he forgot how to use it,

who died and came back but can’t tell

you what heaven looked like.

There once was a sister who learned

to climb trees before she could walk

the tightrope she’d strung up herself,

who stole a piece of the sun

just because she was told she never could.

There once was a little brother who made

friends with the ugly critters

and learned their secrets only to keep them,

who could make stones laugh

but only when he wasn’t trying.

There once was a little sister who bled

the moon red just so she could

wash it silver again,

who learned how to dance

to the music the bees only sang for her.

There once was a woods child,

a ghost, the sibling who came

into the world first but found home last,

who was an unholy trinity

of girl, boy, and inbetween

searching for a pulse they lost

somewhere in the woods,

who dug through tree roots

for a name that fit,

who planted acorns to sprout

oak trees the could reach the sky

and crack it open so they could see

where wishes went missing,

who found friends in the beasts

their mother called monsters.

There once was a child who almost

fit but didn’t,

who dug a grave

for themself

but didn’t die

who had a place

called home

but didn’t know

how to stay.

There once was a family who lived

in a house on the edge of the rest of the world

they built a wall to keep out,

who trapped themselves in the beginning

of a fairytale that didn’t have an end.