The autumn of life

The last leaf falls

drifting slowly

silently

into the night breeze

and the tree stands bare

open to the elements

it knows the change is upon it

It is the autumn of its life

It remembers the past

the many seasons it has enjoyed

and endured

It lived through sunny days

in the park

with laughing children

and barking dogs

it smiled down upon them all

It lived through snowy winter chills

and shivered with the tiny birds

as they snuggled in its branches

itshielded them as best it could

It wept when the park was taken away

replaced by brick

and stone

and cement

no one laughed or played any more

the children were grown and gone

ashes of the dogs

scattered at its feet

and the birds had flown the nest

It saw the yellow truck pull up

the men walked round and round

they measured and stared

and chatted amongst themselves

the lines were drawn

red paint marking its demise

the men left

and the cold evening set in

The tree looks up to the sky

and asks to be whisked away

but it is only a tree

who would save it?

A light shines

down on it

a set of arms

wrap themselves around it

then two

three

more

and more

suddenly it is thrust into the daylight

it looks down

and there it sees

all the children

The children of the children

who had grown and gone

gone but not forgotten

they had remembered

And now the tree knows

that it had always been

always would be

loved

This poem is also published on my blog, drawing room days 🙂

Copyright © 160712 by Karen Payze

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Tags: autumn, children, dogs, literature, park, poem, poems, poetry, poetry writing, poets corner, writing