The Willow’s Dryad By Alena Casey

The Willow’s Dryad By Alena Casey

I met the dryad in a willow tree.
I loved her, and she loved me.

She was the smell of wood and bark and leaf,
Wind in her hair the sound of grief.

Through golden summers, she her secret kept:
She never told me why she wept.

She left our childhood meadow for the city
Where men and knowledge said she’s pretty.

I followed her. No more she smells of leaves,
but still she grieves.

Alena Casey is a poet, writer, and mother of four from Indiana. Her poetry has been published with The Road Not Taken, The Society of Classical Poets, and The Author’s Journal of Inventive Literature, among others. She can be found at strivingafterink.wordpress.com.