Family Tree
Dear Family Tree,
I saw you breaking branch by branch,
bearing neither fruit nor leaf; there
was nothing I could do but watch
until I couldn’t bear to see anymore.
You were tall and strong in my eyes,
I used to look up to you; but a stump
is all that remains now, a remnant of
what was. All I want to say is that I don’t blame
you for your fall. Maybe if you were planted
in a different soil, or in a different climate,
you would have thrived; but you were
never able to find what you needed.
The fertilizer that was my admiration for you
became more and more diluted each day
by the water that drowned you where you stood,
rotting you from your roots up. Maybe
somewhere, in the midst of your decay, one
green leaf will grow when you finally find yourself;
it’s not up to me to find you anymore.
Sincerely, your distant seed