A mighty apple tree stands sentinel
Beneath lonely mountains
And empty sky
Its roots stretch
Deep, deep, deep
Into hearty earth
Its trunk grows
Up, up, up
Reaching for sky
Its branches blossom
Open, open, open
Attracting new life
Its blooming buds become apples
Ripe, ripe, ripe
Bobbing in gentle wind
Its red apples fall
Down, down, down
Carrying seeds for the future
Its branches shrivel
Closed, closed, closed
Shivering in cold air
Then warm light returns
The tree’s branches blossom
And its trunk adds a ring.
For this poem, I really wanted to focus on the central image of the apple tree and how that tree both changed and stayed the same in different ways. Despite seasonal change, that same tree remained in the same location with the same surroundings. However, I wanted to illustrate how the passage of time brings about change — the renewal of life in a cyclical fashion.