The knots gave the tree a face and a life with it
This tree was my protector, my guardian spirit
Which presided over my sheltered childhood
Until the tree was no longer where it stood
I was running when rain replaced the afternoon heat
But my footfalls kept on their steady beat
In the dark a distant lightbulb flashed
I wasn't afraid when the lighting crashed
Nor when thunder roared above me in the sky
But it hid the sound of the oak tree's cry
Electricity lingered in the illuminated air
The tree lit up and the fire began to flare
It burned my oak tree. It killed my great old oak tree
But it did not set the spirit free
It trapped it in the blackened bark
Like a jail, cold, dead and stark
They said it was too dangerous now
That the lifeless tree could fall on me somehow
So the city came and chopped it down
When they came, they started from the crown
And when they reached my oak tree's heart
The flow of tears from my eyes did start
The tree wasn't dead until they killed it
And hauled it away bit by bit
The stench of death filled me
As I said goodbye to my special tree
Now every time the rain falls
And across the sky lightning crawls
I smell the scent of my dying tree
And dream of the spirit it used to be