Weeping Willow
Poem of a young woman exploring the past
In war-torn lands across the sea,
Soldiers died on bloody battlegrounds.
Ships returned their bodies to be buried,
Carried by the wind wisping through the air.
A young woman wanders into the wood
Where many other young women once stood.
“Why does the willow weep here?”
She asks the wind whipping through her hair.
The woman weaves through the willowy wisps
Where wee children once walked and skipped.
No answer comes from within the willowy walls
Dampening the wind within its lair.
Her young eyes wander through the scene
Where once wailed wee babes not yet weaned.
Whittled upon the tree is a woman with wee ones
With the wind whispering through the air:
“Women once swept.
Children once slept.
The men had left
And all had wept.”
The woman wonders what had happened to them.
For years, people seldom disturbed the willowy hem.
She weaves through the weeping wisps
The wind swirling through her hair.
She wanders through the wood to town
Where families live together all around.
Those who had once wept smiled again
Their joy whirling through the square.
The waves wash away to other shores
Where flowers blossom on land once ravaged by wars.
In the young woman’s mind, she adds another verse
That the wind whispers through the air:
“Women once yearned.
Children once learned:
‘This too shall turn.’
Most men returned.”
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