On that branch of the family tree
The generations fly by
You hang on, only just
A few fibres still catching
Strong ones, determined
Like those last strings
Keeping a baby tooth in place
The wind tries to move you
But you're tough, well-weathered
Storms have blown, rains have poured
You've kept busy, kept going
And you're dry now, almost powder
Wrinkles have been and somehow gone again
Leaving your skin flat, smooth
It's resilient, kind of beautiful
You're awkward, a little baffled
Only just connected to our silly modern world
You look down at the ground
Where the leaves all fall some day
And wonder how it will be
To lie in the mulch for a while
You look back up to what you can still see of the sky
You hang on to the branch, to your life, a little longer
Rachel Fox, Angus, Scotland
previously published in More about the song by Rachel Fox (Crowd-pleasers Press).
5 comments:
Born and raised in the North of England, Rachel Fox now lives on the Angus coast in Scotland. After school she studied languages and then proceeded to work in a random series of jobs (with lots of no-job breaks in between). She has worked in advertising , market research, retail, education, journalism and as a DJ in a lot of sweaty nightclubs. Currently she works at home looking after the family and writing. She has written poems since about 1997 and been telling people about it since about 2003. She has published poetry postcards and reads her poems in public regularly, most often at the Folk Club in Montrose. Always a huge music fan, some of her poems have been turned into songs with tunes and they often form part of the performance somehow or other. Her first book 'More about the song' was published in 2008.
Her website is www.crowd-pleasers.net
That is a beautifully balanced poem. A wonderful idea and beautifully executed.
wonderful poem. my son is the last leaf on his branch. i'll share this with him.
Fine work! Inasmuch as I am the next leaf (presumably) to fall, I read this as a particularly personal and poignant piece.
This is excellent work. The imagery is perfect for the theme, and the end of the poem, with the person considering what it will feel like to live in the mulch--that was brilliant. The line breaks are perfect and I love the way you fill in some history in stanza 2. Great sustained metaphor throughout!
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