When I loved you, when we were strong as trees,
rooted in green, when I said yes to everything—
it was easy to love.
Your legs
sturdy as trunks, foliage thick as spring,
where has it gone, my dear?
We had our years in laughter, in plenty or little
back when we bent so easily in the wind.
We were foolish with love,
spent it down to our skin, ’till
there was nothing left to say, and
you sent me away.
Near a lifetime’s passed,
I don’t always think of it so much,
so much water and so many years come and gone,
but truth is,
I love you—yet winter’s here,
branches stripped, their leaves spent,
too much weather in limbs sweeping the ground.
Still it’s been a lifetime of loving you,
though not like when we were young.
Yet here it is—
alone or together, husband, brother, companion
and friend, in sweet and bitter,
in axe to the trunk—oh, I remember
all those springs and summers when once I loved you, when
we were young.
December 29, 2014 at 11:55 am
So lovely, SuLan. ♥
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December 29, 2014 at 12:40 pm
Thank you, dear Brenda!!
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December 29, 2014 at 2:17 am
When so much in our life is temporal and fleeting, this relationship is like a large tree firmly rooted in a foundation of time and experiences; its branches forming a protective canopy that shield against the winds of change.
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December 29, 2014 at 2:42 am
So right you are. I am positive there was a decision made outside the mists of human memory, an agreement for this lifetime. Together to bring Brandee into the world, then lifelong friends more than anything else. I suspect he’s been a protective tree over my life for far longer than I could imagine. Brandee was part of the deal.
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December 27, 2014 at 10:30 pm
Sad… But oh so real.. “It is better to have loved… “
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December 28, 2014 at 2:04 am
Yes, a bittersweetness, but the fact remains we remains dear friends throughout life, companionable, and it has worked out in a kind of way–better friends than lovers. He thought I should publish it.
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December 27, 2014 at 10:16 pm
So poignantly, hauntingly beautiful!
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December 27, 2014 at 10:27 pm
Thank you, dear Yvette!
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