Samara

You deserve the stirrings of peace.

You should have long inherited the blessings of the land,

A place to land, soft and rich,

A place to grow, a place to put down roots,

A place where you could unlock all the encoded secrets from your innermost heart.

Instead, you were battered by a maelstrom,

Taken far from your landing zone,

Almost crushed under uncaring feet, tires,

Settling between hard, unfriendly rocks.

Another wind, even stronger, untamed, wild,

Caught you up again,

Smashed and crashed its way across unfamiliar territory

And took you with for the ride,

Will you, nil you.

You didn’t ask for this.

Your cries of “No! No!” were completely lost in the chaos,

Shredding your wing,

The thing shaped to give you gentle passage

Turned against you,

Mangled aileron, harsh landing.

You were turned into a thing of detritus,

Dropped when you become inconvenient

To a careless caster.

You were made for quiet.

You were made for growth in the sun,

Watered by gentle rains,

Carefully hardened by the autumn frost,

Snug in a bed till spring’s rebirth.

You were made to nurture, to shelter,

Glorious green shade

And soothing wind-music

To calm a fevered soul,

Not wonder which tooth or claw

Will sink into your tender parts,

Rend, devour, take all your guarded secrets

For their own nutrition-

And eventual elimination.

Even in this shattered world,

The cries of the innocent

Are heard in the tiniest of crevices,

And a helping hand from a fellow wanderer-

Battered, bruised, fallible, but kind-

Will come along

And see the struggle,

And save a lostling.

Some precious roots will be lost,

But they will preserve what they can,

Take what little good soil still clings desperately

And find a place of safety

Where you can grow.

Sheltered, like you should be,

Tended, like you should be,

Comforted, like you should be.

A pocket of peace in the maelstrom.

Storms will return, they are inevitable,

But this time you have what you need

To withstand, endure.

In time,

You too will shelter travelers

Who can find comfort

In the shadows of your crown.