Forest Voices

 

“Old Oak Tree” by Ginette Callaway

 

the old man
the only man
willing to hear them
the voices of time

the paper white birch
utters softly
a whispered lament
for the handsome
crisp skin
given freely
to history’s hands

the towering pine
sighs in its tops
for dropped
embryo needles
that fall upon ground
it can hardly
remember

the stout wrinkled maple
gives whimper
a plaintive dry cry
for the once virile
sugar sap
taken by too many
seasons of harvest

the ancient bull oak
gnarled and knotted
groans deeply
in pain
under strain
from the heavyset
ache of its age

the old man
the only man
versed in the language
of voices of time