The Oak Tree

By hedgehog1

Thu, 01 Jun 2017
  • 1852 reads
9 comments
 

Four hundred years I've been in the ground

So much I have seen as the seasons come round

The rook or the raven planted me here

An acorn so small but soon to appear

 

My growth was so slow in my first early years

The grass gave me shelter from rabbits and deer

Time was my friend as I gently reached upward

My canopy broadened as my branches reached skyward

 

So many things as I slowly look round

From fields to farmyards I see all around

Tractors being readied for pulling the plough

I wonder how close they will come to my bough

 

The day dawns bright when they start cutting hay

Tossing and turning it all of the day

No rain being forecast for most of the week

Make hay whilst the sunshine is at its peak

 

Time marches on and autumn is here

The thunder and lightning is soon to appear

The dark clouds are gathering there in the north

Great torrents of rain will soon scurry forth

 

Lightning forks down and splits me asunder

Followed so closely with a great clap of thunder

An oak sprouted forth in this field of straw

Shattered and scattered a great oak no more.

Certificate U
Poem
Nature

Comments

Submitted by PoppyS on

I like the meaning/metaphor of the piece, that no matter how strong, old or wise we think we are - we are all living, treading a precarious existence.

Enjoyed.

Poppy ~xx~

Writing is art in pictures – Go paint poetry!

Submitted by hedgehog1 on

Good afternoon PoppyS,

Thank you for your comments on my poem. I wholeheartedly agree with you I get inspiration from pictures. Some of my work is inspired by paintings which I interpret in my own way.

Edward (hedgehog1)

 

Submitted by hedgehog1 on

Good afternoon PoppyS,

Thank you for your comments on my poem. I wholeheartedly agree with you I get inspiration from pictures. Some of my work is inspired by paintings which I interpret in my own way.

Edward (hedgehog1)

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

A real sense of time passing, and sadness at the end.  I love the line 'the rook or the raven planted me here' - it has a real echo of folk tales.

Submitted by hedgehog1 on

Good afternoon airyfairy,

Thank you so much for your comment on my poem.

I always like the way individuals interpret what I write as they often make me aware of certain aspects of my poems that I am not conscious of.

Edward (hedgehog1)

 

Submitted by Ladylily on

Beautiful poem Edward, this lovely Oak Tree,  it's wisdom and strength destroyed by nature it'self. You made the oak tree come alive with it's own personally. However nothing or nobody  is permanent. The Oak Tree did it's work...can you imagine how many birds, insects and many, many, other nature creatures  this Oak had given refuse too. Beautifully written as usual. Rhyme brilliant.Certainly a big cherry from me. Xx

LadyLily

Submitted by hedgehog1 on

Good evening Ladylily,

I agree with you Geraldine that nothing is permanent. The Oak Tree was one of my first two poems when I started writing poetry. (Flinders Field was the other) As you know I just like to write and hope fellow scribes enjoy what I write.

Thank you so much for your comments, they mean so much to me. I like the way your imagination points to the Oak Tree doing it's work etc. 

Edward (hedgehog1) XXx

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Hello Edward,

I really don't know how I missed this poem, the oak is my all time favourite tree. I just love how you bring the thoughts from a sappling to life, as it grows and how it describes what it sees, to the saddness at the end of its final demise.

Beautifully mastered.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by hedgehog1 on

Good afternoon Jenny,

Thank you so much for your comment.

It is through comments like yours that I as a new poet of about one year gain the confidence to try different formats of poetry and to publish them on this site.

Edward (hedgehog1)