Last week I saw a huge oak tree in front of a small white home on a hill on a country road. Today I was thinking how people can be like that oak tree, time passing, parts of our body giving up, but still we keep living. I made up the man’s life.
in a field of green,
a grass driveway worn thin
from the old man who comes and goes
in a small truck kept
for errands,
or so he says.
It has watched and grown
as the man has watched and grown,
a wife, children,
grandchildren,
a picnic on a summer’s day
under its shade.
Perhaps it has a scar or two
from sleds sliding down the hill
from home to country road,
a country road once quiet,
now busy with traffic,
headlights sweeping past at dusk
as people and passengers pass by.
One third is now dead,
branches without leaves,
a skeleton against the dusty blue sky
with just a touch of green left,
saying
I am still here.
Poetry by Melinda K Zarate
Read 11 times
Written on 2026-09-02 at 19:43
Tags Aging Trees Time
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Still Here
It stands in solitary splendorin a field of green,
a grass driveway worn thin
from the old man who comes and goes
in a small truck kept
for errands,
or so he says.
It has watched and grown
as the man has watched and grown,
a wife, children,
grandchildren,
a picnic on a summer’s day
under its shade.
Perhaps it has a scar or two
from sleds sliding down the hill
from home to country road,
a country road once quiet,
now busy with traffic,
headlights sweeping past at dusk
as people and passengers pass by.
One third is now dead,
branches without leaves,
a skeleton against the dusty blue sky
with just a touch of green left,
saying
I am still here.
Poetry by Melinda K Zarate
Read 11 times
Written on 2026-09-02 at 19:43
Tags Aging Trees Time
Save as a bookmark (requires login) Write a comment (requires login) Send as email (requires login) Print text| Texts |
 by Melinda K Zarate Latest textsStill HereRetaining Wall The Great Destruction All is Well Domesticated |
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