Conifer's Confession

Numberless now ... Many, the years since then When I uncurled my toes and reached thru soil Pushed up and spread out While beneath me the richness of the earth nourished Spreading tendrils through the dark and damp To give me strength and secure purchase Ring-by-ring my girth increased Branches spreading ... reaching for the air Capturing the weep of heaven And bounding toward the warm of the sun Water surging like blood Chlorophyll coloring my bloom and breadth Carbon dioxide like the breath of life Deep in ... oxygen out Little ones doing their work during the green time And their bright, crisp, beautiful deaths Autumn's blanket, their last deed Countless, those cycles ... Yet ... I stood strong over HER Sheltered her from rain, child-to-woman Shaded her quiet time in the summer swelter Covered her loves in the autumn chill Let her swing in my boughs, up to the sky and back It was my pride to care for her these years To offer my strength and cover And mostly, to hear her sing to the meadow. Yet now she swings again in my boughs Dangles amidst my strong arms Lifeless ... on a rope. Oh, if only I were a willow For then I, too ... Could weep. Written on January 7, 2020 N/A'd on June 13, 2020 in the the "I Am A Tree" Poetry Contest Submitted on June 16, 2020 To the "N-A Re-Run 8" Poetry Contest John Hamilton, Sponsor.