Oak Tree Dying and One Who Left

The bare oak stands a sentinel of grief

Its leafless limbs afford no shade or rest,

Stark and black, devoid of greening leaf

Where no bird lives or builds its happy nest.

Death is a mighty shell-shock for the soul

Left behind to wander through life alone,

A deadening nescient numbness his paltry dole

As fades the image of the beloved one.

The winter of our sorrow cannot remain

For life in us is strong, we must survive

The nights of sadness lingering, the pain

Of loss; we shall not fail to keep alive

The dream that brought two spirits ever close.

There is an aid sustaining from above,

Some see Him as the lily, some the rose,

His name is known, his gift divine love.

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Written on seeing the gradual and final death of a magnificent oak tree when a bulldozer cleared the land around it destroying its root system.