The Fern That Felt
A Free Verse Poem on Empathy
True empathy survives chaos, and plants seeds. -Michelle Liew
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In Aching Grove, where silence thrived,
A fern with feeling danced--
She sensed the pain of broken lives
The fear of judging glance.
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The trees stood tall, upright, aloof,
"Too much heart enslaves."
The fern just listened, saw the truth,
And healed the souls betrayed.
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A fire seared the land, stung eyes
Trees gone but fern remained--
She heard the charred grove's final cries
She burned, without complaint.
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When dawn trod through smoky cinder
A sapling rose from soot--
A single fern, trembling, tender,
Where his mum had taken root.
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Now new trees feel a tiny beat
Where once the fire burned--
As if the grove still breathes, repeats,
For the fern that did not spurn.
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This poem is entirely original. AI tags are coincidental.
About the Creator
Michelle Liew Tsui-Lin
Hi, i am an English Language teacher cum freelance writer with a taste for pets, prose and poetry. When I'm not writing my heart out, I'm playing with my three dogs, Zorra, Cloudy and Snowball.
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Comments (7)
🩷wonderfully written
Too much heart enslaves - love that!
Fabulously written 🍀🍀🍀🍀
This was extremely powerful. Loved your poem!
More than surviving, thriving
Beautiful imagery, and somewhat sad. I like how the plantation was somehow metaphoric.
New research has shown how plants actually can feel and express pain. They are living beings after all.