Ugly Old Tree (an Epitaph)

My attempt to rhyme in a whimsical style.

    I’m an ugly old tree

 

The sun won’t shine on me

Winter wind is all that I know.

     My world’s mute as the grave

I’ve no soul left to save

 Roots repose in the frost and in snow.

     Where are the birds in the spring time?

How long have they left me alone?

I haven’t seen blue in a lifetime

The  summer sky I’ve never known.

    

      I’m a lonely old tree

Grown in soil and scree

In the shadow of doom’s barren hill

    I can struggle and try

Stretch out towards the sky

But you see, a tree hasn’t much will

     Where is the life that was promised

When a green sprout poked through the ground

Beyond an unseen horizon it’s setting

With the sun I watch it sink down.

     I’m an angry old tree

Seen what evil can be

From my plot in the devil’s back yard

     Felt he cut of the blade

I’ve heard screams fill the glade

Learned that life is both bloody and hard

     Where are the squirrels and the robins?

The grass and the springtime and rain

Gone with the world of the summer

Faded with joy and with pain.

     I’m a hopeless old tree

Have no pity for me

For I haven’t a drop for myself

     Life is saying goodbye

You’ll grow lonely and die

Or like my love be turned to a shelf.

     Why must we love what is broken

And torture ourselves with our ghosts

Remembering life’s joy, triumph and strife

It’s the soft things that hurt us the most

     

     I’m a pallid old tree

Bleached and faded you see

And my leaves never change with the fall

    Barren sticks are my crown

Empty heavens look down

Do you see me? I’ve no leaves at all.

     Where is the verdant and growing

Where are the sprigs and the seeds

Nothing can grow here, except for the dusk

Not even brambles or weeds

      I’m an ugly old tree

Time is nothing to me

So I planted a seed in the ground

     May he grow green and tall

Standing strong through the squall

While the rest of the world is cut down

    Where are the crows and the June bugs

Someday they’ll nestle in him

For now I will die and curse earth and sky

And the sunshine and blue sky and spring 

                                                Chris Norton 10-25-11

Author's Note

I'm not big on poems that rhyme. This was stuck in my head and needed to come out.

Reviews

[Jennie Baron]

It stuck in my head, too. Breathtakingly beautiful in a sad way and definitely well rhymed. Maybe you didn't intend it that way, but the seed metaphor made me think of having children and a parent's hope that perhaps the world will be better to them or they will make a difference in it.

I'm so grateful to Tia for pointing this one out to me.

[Christopher Norton]

Definitely intended thet way

[Jewel Chanda]

enjoyed it as you rediscovered the strength of words..

[Saddam]

Very well stuck dear poet. It is great and show us various shades of life. A hopeless but great view.. I like it most for its beauty and message.

[Christopher Norton]

Thank you.... It;s hard to take compliments. I'm used to feeling like a worthless, hollow person. If some of that hollowness is music to others, it is not in vain.

[Christopher Norton]

Thank you for calling it hopeless. You get it. It is about resentfull surrender and regret

[Lyn Anderson]

This is absolutely fantastic. It has a great form, style, and excellent use of repetition. A great piece, glad Tia sent it to me as a RR

[Christopher Norton]

The flip side of this is "Little Balls of Cotton". Please tell me what you think

[Lyn Anderson]

ok, can you send a RR?

[Christopher Norton]

I think I did.... I'm new here so I'm never sure how this works.

[EdgarLovecraft]

good rhymes and well constructed

[ANM]

Really well written and so true of life....

[Tina Louise UK]

This was incredibly profound! Filled with amazing metaphors...to me this spoke of a child born with hopes and dreams but life took them away one by one, so he stands old and dead...but the seed he planted (a child) he has such hope for...

whether or not this is what is implied, that is what I took out of it...an amazing read!