Life Changing

________________________________________ Life Changing In these quiet woods, as shadows spread, Timorous leaves whisper my secrets to the breeze. A sentinel of time I am among the malus trees. My roots run deep in my seed’s homestead. -- I stir under the warm sun anew. My blossoms blooming bouquets of pink petals fair, I stand in beauty, unaware. Unbidden but welcome, Spring has made its debut. -- My branches grow branches, my leaves bear blades. The bees buzzing come, a swarming tinnitus hum, My stigma swipes their pollen, my honey glands reward their plumb. Such is the dance of life, out of sight, in the shade. ---- Sated with Spring and Summer, exhaustion nears, Pink petals pass. Unadorned leaves leave their color green for brown And softly, gently, resignedly, flutter down, Dumb in their final moments in the breeze’s tears. ---- Myself, in those moments, stark and bare, I ponder life. Its fleeting fare seems awkwardly unfair to the fruit I bore, the leaves I shed, My issue are now numbered among the dead. But my roots still run deep, insulated from the strife. --- A sentinel of stone I am among the malus trees.