Dead Oak Tree..

There can be a strange beauty in death..

It stood alone, as if an outcast from the nearby woods. How did it get there? You could tell it once was a mighty Oak tree, like the many that still stood tall and alive nearby. Once it's great limbs held a massive amount of lush green leaves. Now, it's limbs looked brittle and barren, void of any life. Many of it's limbs laid at it's base, like markers to a grave.

I found myself fixated on this one solitary tree, bypassing the natural beauty of the forest with it's thick green foliage. I was looking at a dead tree...a dead tree that was magnificent in death. In the background were fields of fruitful corn, and an old weather beaten red barn. It seemed to add to the tree's magnetic attraction.

Of all the natural beauty surrounding it, it occurred to me a painter would only want to capture the lone, breathtaking silhouette of this still massive, but lifeless tree. So I painted with words..

 

i'm gonna be gone someday

what do i want my memory to say

how will life remember me

let me be a dead oak tree

let me stand all alone

gone,but standing on my own

no marker, or stone engraved

let me stand where once i swayed

there's beauty in the shadow of death

a haunting image that takes your breath

to leave behind for all to see

to die in grace, a dead oak tree

let their eyes scan the fields

of stunning woods,and bountiful yields

i want to stand with my shadow cast

against horizons where nothing lasts

i was here, and here i'll be

forever live...the dead oak tree

 

Author's Note

I am still working on this piece..

Reviews

[Bhavya Kaushik]

"There can be a strange beauty in death.." - Yes, I agree...there is always a strange hidden beauty behind not only death but also behind pain, behind tears and behind heartbreaks.
This poem is certainly very different and you succeeded in conveying your message from the idea of a dead oak tree. This is indeed a very thoughtful piece of writing.
It is not at all only about the dead tree or the comparison of your life with the tree but it is widely about the philosophy behind the life of every individual.
Brilliant piece of writing!

[Jennifer]

I am a little speechless.

[Dave "Doc" Rogers]

One editor's bit in Para 2:
"In the background were fields of fruitful corn fields," I would lose the second 'fields.'

Of the verse, Ray, well done. You managed both rhyme and rhythm well and you told its story well. Good lines through out. I liked your end verse. It struck a cord with me. The desire for a bit more permanence than we have here on Earth.

i want to stand with my shadow cast
against horizons where nothing lasts
i was here, and here i'll be
forever live...the dead oak tree

Cheers!
Doc.

[Dezaraye]

I love your painting, Ray. It's beautiful. We have a black walnut tree in our front yard that is magnificent. When I was little, it was always so full of live with it's rich leaves. Now, there is only a single branch on the entire tree that still grows leaves. It makes me so sad to watch it die ... but it's magnificent in its own right.

[Chiquita]

Dear friend, you are as an oak tree. Your depth is deeper than oak roots. Your strength is greater than that of a mighty oak. As usual, you have touched me in a profound way.

"there's beauty in the shadow of death"

Thank you.

[Duane Klinger]

"So I painted with words.." First of all I must comment on this as I am constantly saying that I paint not with brushes and paints but with words, they seem to just flow out of us. . .ah I love it. And now to the work itself, wow incredible. Death is a touchy thing with so many but you were able to take it and give it imagery, sort of its own life. I thought it was incredible and as I read it I could clearly see it. Beautiful piece, my friend, very beautiful
MKLINE

[Jeff Bresee]

I'm quite speechless...it is delicate and powerful at the same time. Your work will ever stand in your place as a brilliant silhouette...against the horizons where nothing lasts.

[Helen Woodward]

I loved this Ray for the hought that went into it. Many don't like to think or talk about death, but the fact of the matter is that everything that needs oxygen dies eventually. Your parallels are drawn extremely well, the tree you describe puts me in mind of the cafe tree! I would not change this Ray as any revision may take away from the momentum you have gathered. You tell such a great yarn, you are one person I would like to have a coffee with...great observational skill.
Helen xxx

[AK]

This is stunning! Stunning!

[Rc R. Vagilidad]

i am amazed on how you correlated the beauty of death to LIFE..
in my views, though random, i thought of paradise, of how death could be a stepping stone to another world.. but people as we are, we are a spec of bliss. we are happy to know just simple thoughts of life..

[KW Pennington]

What one determined acorn wrought by separating itself from the crowd...