There is a tree in a garden
I am sworn to protect.
Once as you walked by
you dropped a seed
and I saw where it fell
and I broke ground around it
planting it out of season.
I kept the earth stirred
as the leaves were blowing
towards winter.
The wound still fresh,
I built a wall around it to shield it
so that it would endure
long after you and I are gone.
Now it is a tree
and we are no more
and still
I watch it grow.
Copyright © 2002 Dennis Janke • All rights reserved.