Once I was a tree
In the middle of a fiels
Bearing blossoms every spring
And apples every fall,
But they saw I was alone there
And didn’t like that.
They pur me in my place
In the middle of a grove
My fight for light began
My branches crept taller
Always striving to be the best,
The highest,
The thickest
Fall past and winter came
A time for rest from work
A time for conversation
I learned the trees around me
Their favorite years
The animals that called them home
They learned that I
Was home to but one squirrel
I told them,
"I used to be home to birds of prey,
Badgers burrowed beneath my roots."
But none believed me
They mocked my thin trunk
My lack of residents
And green grass to circumnavigate me
They jealously pointed when children hugged me
And climbed me
And flaunted their own limbs
When the honor was theirs
Spring finally came
And they were covered in pink
The ground was powdered
With pink petals about their trunks
All but mine
Which was bare
My branches sported little
But a green leaf-but or two
Sparsely administered
Among my brittle extensions
The criticism came stronger
Other trees grew taller
All but myself who grew outward
And their branches
And the ivy
Choked my most delicate parts
I endured the suffering
Until summer once again appeared
The sun smiled, it seemed
To none but me
The other trees continued to
Be arrogant
But I began to forget
I was not where I belonged
Soon enough I was lush with foliage
And fall turned my blossoms
To fruit supple and rich