Round Robin 8

and threw herself, wildly,
on the mercy of the flames.
Where the fire burned,
the old shriveled skin
peeled away and fell.
She was a slithering snake,
shedding its old skin
and growing into the new.

She basked in the heat
from the flames and gained
strength from the inferno.
At the same time, though,
she knew that she must drag
herself from her playground.
Should she stay too long,
she would dry up and shrivel
again into her former self.

The crone, now young and beautiful,
used her staff to pull herself
away from the forest. It was slow
going because the forest had taken
a life of its own and reached out
to keep her within its grasp.
She had to fight the force within
the trees as well as the force
within herself. It became
a battle for survival.