Three Trees

Three trees stood in a wood
Their leaves whispering to each other
Three gossipy old trees.

Three trees stood in a wood
They had eyes of red
Red, almost brown.

Three trees stood in a wood
Red eyes see everything that
Brown and blue and green do not.

Three trees stood in a wood
Their thoughts are slow and black
They think for a thousand years.

Three trees stood in a wood
A black thought is never good
An old thought is always evil.

Three trees stood in a wood
Let the dead lie
Under their shadowy branches.

Three trees stood in a wood
The dead whisper their pale secrets
Into their sinuous roots.

Three trees stood in a wood
Birds rest not here
Here in the home of the dark.

Three trees stood in a wood
These branches never bowed
With heavy, sweet fruit.

Three trees stood in a wood
Woe befall he who sees them
Evil haunts the axe-man.

Three trees stood in a wood
Drinking in the rain greedily
And smacking their red lips.

Three trees stood in a wood
Old wood may splinter
But it is your hand it cuts.

Three trees stood in a wood
Old trees drink blood, they say
But whose blood is it?