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