Derakht

*Author's note: Derakht is the phonetic Latinized spelling of the Persian word for tree. How many weary travelers have you shaded? How many private conversations--- between lovers, between friends--- have you overheard? And how many birds and all their broods have called your branches home, O derakht? Who was alive when you were planted? How many lives began and ended--- like the sunrises and sunsets--- as you slowly grew? When the breeze blows through your graceful boughs you whisper all their stories, O derakht. Silent witness of untold ages ancient keeper of the passage of time, unceasing in its flow, which carries man away, you too someday will fall and sink into the earth that bore you--- taking all your secrets with you--- O noble, great derakht.