Family Tree

There stood a tree
With a love for me
Never felt as free
As when it held me.

It stood for all
So it stood tall
Though unknown to all
What had grown would fall.

For while it stood
It stood for love
And in its wood
It stood above.

No matter the breeze
That battered these trees
It always kept me at ease
All that rattled were its leaves.

Beneath its thick bark
Beat a deep but sick heart
For beneath its thick bark
A weakness would start.

So this tree that fought the wind
That brought me to its Kin
Would be caught from rot within
But it’s us who lost, not him.

Though it knew it wasn’t well
Those who knew it couldn’t tell
It stood stronger to the cell
Made this wood stronger for its spell.

It sheltered me in my youth
Mentored me to be astute
I splendour at its truth
As I remember through its roots.

I believed in it in its time
For its roots interweave with mine
Now what I retrieve from fallen vines
I will try pass down the line.

Autumn left,for Winters cold
The wood cried theft, it was young not old
Many wept, uncontrolled
You cannot measure the breadth, it extended its hold.

© Daniel Breslin