Good-Bye, Old Friend

On this most unusual autumn day I must say goodbye to an old friend, a gigantic, ancient oak tree in my front yard: You have shaded my porch for the three decades I’ve resided here, enabling me to sit in my swing on hot days admiring my surroundings and composing poems. You have been the home of innumerable squirrels. Delightful little songbirds have perched on your branches and serenaded me with their delightful, happy trilling. Limb by limb, you have been dying for a long time. Twice, you have had to part with appendages, felled by saws—at my reluctant bidding, but of necessity. Twice, your limbs have fallen on their own, in my yard and even on the road! Horrendous weather is coming, with ice and high winds. For self and neighbors, I fear your huge dead limbs on your right side, which have borne no leaves for several years. How they creak when the wind rises! The tree cutters will be here tomorrow. Not even a stump will remain at day's end. From this time forward, I will behold the void where you once lived. I won't forget you. Your siblings are still here, tall and strong--as you once were. God willing, they will outlive me! Good-bye! December 26, 2022 Contest: Still Life, Autumn Scene Sponsor: Eve Roper