Ash

She stood stoically fighting the disease that crept through her dry trunk Sapping her life, withering her leaves, leaving her naked limbs silhouetted against the summer moon. Her Roots retracting from the moist soil lose their grip on the earth Until slowly, imperceptibly, She leans She falls Lying in her lost leaves her resting place accepts her Embracing her death with its life Slowly, imperceptibly She is subsumed Until Under a summer moon A sapling grows