When Lightning Strikes the Tree

I visited the old stump the day Grandma died,

Another matriarch felled by passages of time.

Solid trunk, but old age hollowed the interior,

Peaceful in repose, but grief rages in my heart.

***

(What do you mean, she’s gone?,

I was just there! Hours ago! She was fine!

Taken too soon… I need her, we need her...)

***

I would climb those branches, play in dappled sun,

Watch from my favorite spot, hidden near the crown,

Hide from my cousins, or play Cowboys and Indians,

Though my Indian was more Elvish than is culturally appropriate…

***

(Cousin, give me my bow back.

Right. Now!

I made it, it’s mine, yes weapons are for girls!

Fork it over before I kick your nuts again!)

***

You could see the whole forest from the top-

Er, from the kitchen table,

Aunts, cousins, uncles, brothers, sisters, friends,

I swear the barn cats brought in strays for a feast.

***

(Don’t finish the milk in your cereal bowl! That’s for the cats!

Sorry, Grenny, that’s my milk, the cats don’t need it,

And I would growl like a cat myself as I gulped it down.)

***

A carpet of leaves like scattered memories,

Some tattered, some crisp as the day they happened,

I pick one at random, smile at the remembrance,

Then let it gently fall to the ground.

***

(Grenny, tell me again, about when lightning struck the barn?

Or when the mules got out? I remember the buffalo escape.

What was my mom like, growing up?

Sweetie, I’m at Grenny’s, we just called the ambulance…)

***

There’s my uncle’s tree, and my aunt’s, and their children’s saplings,

All beaten and weathered by time, storms endured,

Mom’s tree, and Dad’s, I check on them often,

And, of course, mine. My tree.

***

(Dad, can I go fishing with you?

Mom, can we do another craft project together?

No, I don’t want a baby sister or brother! I like being an only!

Bye, off to college! Later!)

***

The forest has thinned over time,

But other growth has taken its place,

New names, new faces, seedlings planted, new memories,

Roots overlapping, branches intertwined.

***

(Auntie Mer, can I get on the torch now?

Ooh, I didn’t know how pretty my birthstone is!

Can you help us hide the Easter eggs for the little ones?

Watcha doing? Drop spinning? Can I try?)

***

My tree needs some maintenance,

Broken branches litter, careers waylaid, aspirations changed,

I make sure the ax marks at the roots show no signs of infection,

But these branches will make a fine nest for the forest critters.

***

(I don’t want kids, I helped raise my cousins, I’m done!

Yeah, that knee’s broken, no more volleyball, I’m sorry.

I have a daughter with my ex I’m not allowed to visit…

That was my wife you tried to kill, allergies do exist!)

***

I move a branch, lift it clear-

And find an unexpected seedling.

A granddaughter.