Evergreen
ballad
May 19, 2025
I came across an ancient oak which had refused the Fall,
his neighbors bare. When asked, he spoke, a voice meant to enthrall:
“I care not for the seasons, child, nor for the Day or Night.
How hot, how cold, unpleasant, mild, a time was, I’d delight
in every variance and change but I no longer care.
When nothing’s new and nothing’s strange, why would I have to bare
my mighty branches to the wind as if I stand in awe?
Go tell the seasons to rescind, go on and tell them so.”
I asked the lush and sprawling giant: “Don’t you know regret?
You stand there, mighty and defiant, as the seasons let,
but have you ever loved another? Standing all alone,
no acorn you can call a brother, tired and overgrown,
in your own shadow, and no doubt, you do not crack or bend,
but all these years to go without a tree to call a friend…”
He interrupted: “there was once a tall and pretty fir.
We had a bit of a romance, I was so fond of her.
She liked to needle me, the lass, but gently, in good fun.
We grew and watched the seasons pass. Together, we were one.
Then one cold day a lumberjack arrived and set her free.
I called to him: will she be back? He laughed, said Christmas tree.
’Twas then that I decided that I’ll never fall again.
Let Winter try its best to flatten, bears sleep in their den,
but I will stand here and defy, leaves green as if it’s June,
as if a fledgling butterfly just morphed from its cocoon.”
Fell silent, there was not a sound except the sound of grief.
And then I noticed, on the ground, a single, wilted leaf.
