Continuing the winter/forest themes.

Originally, I only planned to write this much:

If you look deep
You will find
A solitary winter's rose
Hidden
Beyond the lonely path
Of love's trail

But I added a bit more.

...

If you look deep
You will find
A solitary winter's rose
Hidden
Beyond the lonely path
Of love's trail

Glimmering in frost
But a bloody shade beneath
Like that of the beating
Lover's heart

Both grow veins
Both exist the same
But this is a rose
Not thorny
Nothing to prick the skin
And extract the blood

It sits in frozen complacency
Untouched

But I wonder when
The petals shed
And the flower rests
For another bloom
And why creatures
Do not wish
To tempt tastes of its fruit
We're not to know the truth

All it remains
Is the solitary
Winter's rose
Is all it remains

Untitled woodland number

And I've walked the darkened woods
And heard the shadows speak
Seen them twist and contort
Through different shades of night

I've seen violence in the girl
And pity in the man
Fingers outstretched
Like the desperate,
Brittle limbs

They crave the cold and dark
The bite of winter's frost
Shades of grey
Shades of gloom
Far removed of warmth
The flowers have no bloom
No existence

And in the fading sun's light
I wonder if the shadow
Walking beside me
Is that of my own
Or if it has a companion,
A woman never there,
To brave the unfamiliarity
Of this stark forest
Where the vibrant reds and oranges
Lay their final rest
On dirt-ridden paths

Is anything as it
Truly seems
In this forest of
The dead trees?