Deep in the forest
There is an old large tree
Full of big branches,
As high as you can see.

He’d seen it all
Kids, and their pranks
Seasons, and their changes
He had experienced life to it’s fullest.
He was ‘the Old Wise One’

He’d been through so much more.
More than all the younger trees
He had seen a family picnic
On the earth’s green grassy floor
Seen children run and scatter,
running away from bees.
He had seen the sun go up
And the sun go down.
Watched children grow up
And children fall down.
This tree knew what the summer was
He was “the Old Wise One”

He had been through the fall.
Seen the leaves shed.
Heard the morning bird call
The children complain to get out of bed
He had witnessed a soccer ball sail
And a football fly.
He had heard the victory games cheer
And the loss of a games cry.
He had seen the playful fighting of two baby deer.
And then something set them running
Something they feared.

He had been through frigid winters
Ice cold blizzards
Seen branches become limber
With tons of snow piled high.
And an extra bright, blue sky.

He had sat in a flood
With water a foot and a half high.
While his roots had to soak
And he would listen to the toads croak.

He had been through it all
Seen a toddler take his first steps
While out for a stroll
A child picking bugs
Out of a tree stumps wormhole.
A teen girl’s first kiss
Under the stars
As the couple graved their initials
Into his trunk,
As they talked about their good and bad memoirs.
He knew it all
The ‘Old Wise One’