EVERGREEN

You ask why

The leaf falls from the tree

When Autumn’s chill fills the air,

Or why two lover’s part

Their unexpected destiny…

While as the leaf no longer green

Floats hopeless, lost in mid-air stream

To season’s end and sorrow.

Life’s branches a tangle of uncertainty,

Hapless victims of fortune’s shear

Or caustic storm of indecision...

Fate dangles its tenacious hue

Of somber colored tendrils.

Though unseen sprouts wax yellow-green

Still hidden ‘neath the seasoned golds and browns

Clinging to their last breath...

Then drift to russets that cover frozen ground,

Trodden by intruder’s feet who would believe

Selfishly, that crumbled leaves were theirs

To kick and claim, their illusion sustained...

Profuse, delusional… profain.

And as one cloak would change…another would disguise

To hack away at broken bark, longing to heal

From this unhealthy parasite.

And yet the trunk remains in tact,

Stands handsome, marble-burled and thick,

Impervious to nature’s storm and summer’s heat

Gaining sustenance now from blessed soil

And His magnificent gifts of sun and harvest moon.

Still clinging to love’s memory

Proudly choosing to ignore unwanted attack

It’s roots secure in fertile ground,

Bare limbs a haven, arms unfurled

Prepared for October‘s rain to settle the dust

Infuse the nutrient of crumbled leaves

Into it’s core again…and quell the fear of Winter

While Autumn’s song the wren does sing,

Upon those limbs that nurture the yellow-green

And welcome to this lover’s nest

The fragile leaf of her again.

Taylor Ryan

8/2006

© 2006 Taylor Ryan (All rights reserved)