To that tree on the hill

On that lonesome hill

That saw me fight

My spirit killed

That saw me rise

And roll through my free will

 

The roots of you run deep

Down into the rich earth

And across the shallow polluted surface

To where I sat

On my cement block back step

In full retreat from the chaos

Still raging behind the door to my back

 

I looked up to you

Craning my neck to glimpse

Your perch on top of the top of the world

Beautiful and plain

Twisted and alone

All of your brethren felled

To be burned in a campfire

Or to build a cabinet

 

As you had been left I had been left

To nature’s embrace I fled

You welcomed me with strong branches

Up, up, up I climbed

Until the clouds

In their ever changing illusions

Yet eternal presence

Seemed near enough to touch

 

The swirl of the wind

Gliding over my face

The roughness of your bark

Cutting into my child hands

I clung to you with love

But you were an old tree

I was a little girl

So the questions I posed

Went unanswered

The advice I needed

Was never received

 

That hill was my sanctuary

But my problems lay below your foliage

I had to stand my ground

On that battlefield

It was an inevitability

But your silence taught me

Something worldly booming voices could not

 

Conclusions were meaningless

Unless they were my own

Every breathing action

Had to be rooted in my decisions

So down, down, down I jumped

To greet that perishable realm

My heart full

Hope pumping determination

Into my veins

I returned home

 

I have no way of knowing

If you still stand

On that lonesome hill

Or if you've gone

And fulfilled your material role

However thanks to you

I am never alone

Those memories

Tranquil and free

Feed the embers of my spirit

You will forever be more than just

That tree on the hill

To me