The Jungle

Through the thicket's vines
A damp web sprawls, the insects crawl
Deep I will cut
Desire lines straight to your heart

Inside the anarchy
Of knotted boughs with hanging crowns
Paths I will carve
With my blade I'll penetrate

Green, an endless green
A tangled mess of living things
Cleave, I will split
The tender stems of virgin trees

Grow! Grow! Grow with your god!

True chaos reigns
The birds here screech a constant din
Believe, I must believe
That through the dark I'll find a way

Believe! Believe! Believe! Believe!

As she ran through the forest whipped by the leaves
The monkeys were squealing at the tops of the trees
Bad snakes they followed licking her heels
Dragging their bellies across the rotten fields

She came to a place where the tangle had thinned
Where the light first dappled had now turned dim
Mosquitos had gathered attracted by sweat
A dark swarming cloud, her light swimming head

The arches grew and cloaked her in
Forming a tunnel of spiralling green
A hollow vein its hollow spine
With walls that were papered in elaborate designs

The trunks they fell and forced her down
Their branches pinning her limbs to the ground
The roots they wrapped around her thighs
Trussed like a pig with butchers twine

She lay in the dirt as the seconds they passed
Her mind was spinning, her breathing grew fast
She gathered herself collecting her wits
And gnawed through the vines using only her teeth

The trees were filled with an ancient ire
So was she and she had fire
With all her might she wrestled loose
And prized herself free from the leafy cocoon

She lifted herself and she rose from her knees
Reclaiming her blade from the bloodthirsty leaves
She cut through the roots with a murderous swipe
Now she was the butcher, she had the knife

Filled with a strength that only fear can bring
Adrenaline flowed through her every limb
She roared like a lioness shaking the night
And empowered she sprinted deep into the light