The Oak and the Reeds

Based on the Aesop fable of the same name. https://read.gov/aesop/011.html

A Giant Oak stood near a brook where grew some slender Reeds.

And mocked those tiny fragile stalks that lived among the weeds.

"You have such reason to complain", the boastful Oak Tree said

"For even in the slightest breeze, you're forced to bow your head.

While I resist the blowing wind, and stand here straight and tall

And though your bodies twist and turn, I do not bend at all."

The supple Reeds replied as one, "Don't worry that we shake

We bow before the blowing wind so that we do not break.

You are strong, there is no doubt, our mighty Oak Tree friend

But though no wind has harmed you yet, those days may sometime end."

The Oak Tree mocked the little Reeds, and shouted from on high

"Behold my branches, strong and firm, that play up in the sky.

There is no force that's ever been I cannot face with ease."

The Reeds just smiled to hear such fun, and fluttered in the breeze.

But when the Summer turned to Fall, the wind began to wail

And soon became a hurricane that blew a mighty gale.

The Oak stood firm against the storm, although the tempest grew

The angry wind grew furious and even harder blew

The Reeds bowed to the mighty storm and bent their heads down low

While way up high the mighty Oak was wrestled to and fro

Then all at once the Oak Tree fell, splintered from his roots

And helpless lay upon the ground beside the swaying shoots

The Reeds said to the fallen Oak "The folly you employed

Was stubbornly resisting, for at last you were destroyed."

The Oak Tree lies among the Reeds, no longer standing tall

And learned the lesson we all know: Pride comes before the fall.

Reviews

[emmajoygreen]

Fine meter, fine tale within.. a lesson taught by the whole. But the reader needs think of the tree's known strength however. Is there a nudge within your words, a nudge that suggests one thinks at the content as if a contest amongst growth?