The heartwood compresses to form a solid mass,
densely packed layers become the core of being.
Technically
the heartwood is dead,
but does not atrophy or decay
[unless the outer layers
become jeopardized],
the core provides
balance, stability, and security,
self-insulating,
simultaneously
protected
and expanding,
as sacrificial outer layers,
supply life and growth,
surrounded by an exterior
of dead, hardened flesh;
the reality
of one’s constant exposure
to an unforgiving world.
A core of sustained non-life,
an exterior of protective death,
and somewhere in-between,
a balance of
life, expansion,
sacrifice, sustenance.