I am on this lonely road
expecting to see everything
where nothing resides but the
untouched earth that most could
only imagine in their dreams.
There is nothing here, just the
peace of the wild in all of its glory.
They are also searching for
their own bounty of nuts and berries.
I laugh at the splendor that they
seek in this refuge we call the hills.
I am in my own world walking,
watching and listening to everything
that is going on around me. I know
that I am alone but yet I have company.
The company of my own thoughts,
sometimes disagreeing with myself.
There it sat, up on the highest of hills!
A willow tree was beckoning me, come forth
and find all of the answers that you have searched.
I give all with nothing to gain, but a human
who shares in the same relentless pain.
It was beautiful, it had these branches that
wept in harmony with the earth.
I remembered one just like this from
long ago days. I remembered talking to it,
as if it understood all of my fears and thoughts.
So I sat and talked to this tree, as if it was a long
lost friend of mine.
I asked it a simple question, the one
that I have asked myself a thousand times before.
Where am I going and have I taken the
road that was meant to be traveled?
Of course I was not expecting it to answer,
but wouldn't that have been something?
I sat laughing at myself, looking out
at the scene that this tree has had to
bare the vision of for so long. It was
comforting to feel the breeze tangling
the hair that I had spent an hour to tame.
I just didn't care in this moment of peace,
I was to enthused with the life that set before me.
Surprisingly, this tree answered me,
in a silent whisper helped by the breeze.
No it did not speak the words vocally,
but it spoke them silently.
In my head only for me to hear,
I was given a tale that I would not soon forget.
My child I have been through it all,
I have battled wars that you would not believe.
I have done everything from suffering the drought
to the floods that drenched my sagging leaves.
It has not been easy sitting here all alone,
but I have done it from day one,
You see.
I was promised life, but not an easy one
I have had to work hard for where I am at.
My branches may sag as most can tell
but they sag in strength where you think
they only weep. I can take the highest of
winds and snow on a winters day, I can
take the heat that only July may bring.
I have learned that lesson well my child,
and when you walk away never to return
you will be just another human that I have
taught as well. I have been here way before
your time, and I will still stand proudly right here
where I am, when you are long gone from
this earths ground.
I walked away from that tree
who suffered just as much as me.
I played it's words over in my mind
a thousand times before I realized.
It has survived more battles than I would
have to face in a lifetime.
It has watched its branches die as
they sagged down to the ground.
The questions that I had searched for
so long had been answered right under
that weeping willow tree. It had
taken me back to a place that was so
cold and unbearable,
I now looked at my past differently, willingly.
It showed me that all of life had battles to fight, but only
those with the strength could find the
beauty that was just beyond the horizon.
I look back now at the beauty of the weeping willow tree,
I remember the tales that it told so freely.
I have come to understand what human life could not teach,
an understanding of our own selves can never be breached.
I wonder about that tree that taught me so much,
I wonder who now sits at its trunk.
