The Old Oak Tree

I wrote this at the age of 12, about saying goodbye to the Oak Tree at my elementary school...or also saying goodbye to my childhood.

THE OLD OAK TREE

I found comfort in your boughs so long,
week, after month, after year.
You sang through the wind your special song
that only I could hear.

You were always there in that vast, clear space
standing straight and tall.
Waiting to see me every day,
in winter, spring and fall.

I never saw you on vacations.
You stood alone in the morning dew.
There wasn't a single child in school
to come and visit you.

The long, hot days of trauma
that you would toss and turn;
anxious for that pleasant day
the children would return.

Too long you've dried my autumn tears,
and thawed my winter freeze.
You've shaded my sorrows for years and years,
being tossed by the gentle breeze.

So long I've sat, so long I've dreamt,
surrounded by the flowers.
So long I've laid, collecting my thoughts,
for endless minutes and hours.

And now I've gone away, my friend,
far from my "place to be."
I've gone forever, I'll never come back
to the comfort of my Old Oak Tree.