It’s the nature of all Nature:
To sprout, to grow,
To become large,
And later to grow old.
A cycle of life,
And death,
Of love in between,
And beyond.
None are exempt
From Nature’s unyielding plan,
Except for those
Who are tragically cut down early.
An oak tree begins
As a tender sapling,
With small bright green leaves
On flexible twigs,
And reaches for the lofty heights,
As he extends wide his branches
To catch the sun.
Without very firm and deep roots
He’ll never survive
The numerous frequent storms.
Yet those thunderous storms
Are vitally crucial
To nourish the young oak,
And develop tough bark,
To protect itself,
To be strong,
Yet flexible,
To withstand the winds
Of change.
And a mature oak tree
Begins to ponder,
About his existence,
About his purpose.
To reflect upon his experiences,
The good, the bad,
The exciting, the mundane.
To regret the painful mistakes,
And to cherish the euphoric joys:
Those many memories
Engraved within its fleshy rings.
He wonders about his seeds,
His progeny, the acorns,
Who have become trees of their own,
Whether they’re planted
In deep fertile soil,
Or suffer
From shallow roots,
That perhaps are his fault.
He wonders if they are happy,
And have found fulfillment,
And joy in their existence,
In their creation.
Or whether the lightning
Of those storms
Have scarred them.
He rues having given them
Less than they deserved,
A poor inheritance.
But there are no second chances.
Only opportunities
For humility,
For understanding,
For humanity,
For forgiveness,
For love,
To cherish and treasure
For the remainder of his years,
And for long after
The wood returns to ash,
And rots within the earth.
For the tree’s legacy,
And his heritage,
His life’s accumulated
Experiences,
And wisdom, and folly,
Continue onwards
In this eternal forest:
The nature of all Nature.
About the Creator
John Markham
I’m an amateur at writing. I began writing fiction/fantasy as well as poetry as a teenager.
My current stories are about a wizard from Earth named Draco Moonbeam on a clandestine mission in the White Kingdom on the planet Gaia.
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Truly amazing and very beautifully written