A Trail That Leads Back Home
by Ann Christine Tabaka

At the end of the field, at the edge of the woods,
is a trail that leads back home.
I speak to the forest, and trees answer.
They lift their heads, responding to my call.
Shrill bark of a red fox, shrieking like some lost child, 
searching to find its way.
Yearning for its clan, sounds pierce the night,
reverberating, penetrating a silent night.
I recognize myself in him, wandering alone,
seeking penance. But I am not as fearless as he.
He is my lost son, whom I have abandoned to the 
trial of ages. For I could not keep him forever young.
I have no spells to cast that will stop the years. 
I grow older as does he.
So, I go to the place where he was conceived,
to make the forest my final abode. 
I follow the trail that will lead me back to him.
There, I lie down on a bed of fern and dry leaves. 

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Ann Christine Tabaka was nominated for the 2017 Pushcart Prize in Poetry. She is the winner of Spillwords Press 2020 Publication of the Year, her bio is featured in the “Who’s Who of Emerging Writers 2020,” published by Sweetycat Press. Chris has been internationally published. Her work has been translated into Sequoyah-Cherokee Syllabics, into French, and into Spanish. She is the author of 13 poetry books. She has been published micro-fiction anthologies and short story publications. She lives in Delaware, USA. She loves gardening and cooking. Chris lives with her husband and four cats. Her most recent credits are: The American Writers Review, The Scribe Magazine, The Phoenix, Burningword Literary Journal, and many others.