There Once Did Live...

Interesting how a certain memory can take on a life of its own.

There Once Did Live...

                        by Odin Roark

 

There once did live

This tree now of charred tenacity

With crumbling faithful statue of strength

Steadfastly stationed atop its roots

 

The stone statue of Hercules

Father placed so long ago

Now defaced with apple in his mouth

Made buffoon by children

Enjoying hijinks of youth

 

There once did live

My fortressed escape

With hammered sticks as steps

Giving flight from reality

My stronghold in the sky

 

This tree that housed so many dreams

Now but a burned out cavity

Remains of remembered life

Entombed by climbing vines

 

Flowered embracing round its trunk

Reaching up left and right

Forgetting not the limbs

That once shaded its mythical protector

Now with mouth crammed of apple

 

How cruel

Yet forgivable

The ignorance of youth

An age clinging tight

The few years it has

 

And how impassioned we become

Upon visiting where once I did fantasize

My own kind of mischief

Hidden by the branches and leaves

Guarded by mythology I knew little of

 

Yet

 

Yet today…

 

How prescient this head of stone

Askew like a court jester pondering me

Seeming able to laugh at himself

As I remove the apple

Coaxing from me as well

A grin of acceptance