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 π
Copyright Β© 160712 by Karen Payze