The Road That Led To The Field

I breathed in the loamy scent of the earth
and watched the tree that had rooted itself
in the middle of that field two hundred years ago.

The tree hadn't changed much since I started watching it
but I had been deeply altered during my span here.
The tree was content where I had never been.

Along the way I had shucked my roots and ran
always looking for life to spark me forward
quenching my own fire with tears of regret.

They say you can't go home,
but maybe you can come home to die,
back to the tree that marked your place.

Lifetimes of wandering all flow to the end of the same road,
then we will all become something other than what we were,
and I've been thinking that tree has been waiting on me long enough.

Reviews

[willweb]

This poem really hit home for me, the analogy here is priceless and so very true. Wow, just wow, your writing always seems to wander down the dark alley, fining me and bring me a light that shines in meaning and thoughts of, maybe life is not so bad afterall.

[icelandicblue]

It's that little lint in your pocket that keeps you going. Thanks so very much will.

[Rita L. Sev]

That tree, like us, has its cycles of blooming and withering, then blooming again. In those barren moments, oh to be home again... Dark beauty in this one, Blue. I felt it to my roots...

[icelandicblue]

Thank you for that Rita. I truly appreciate it.

[Einstein Noodle]

seems a bit ominous in the last stanza! .. i'm thinking that tree can wait a tad longer thank you very much ;) i think of so many things in my own life as i read your poem .. there is a tree that stands in a field all by itself along the route i use to take to work .. it spoke to me so powerfully .. like ..look at me..pay attention .. i am the tree ..(if that makes any sense) the only other thing that field was used for was to run a few cattle to graze it now and then .. it seemed odd to me .. the land is good for all kinds of things .. some time after meeting that tree i learned that the land has Indian burial mounds on it .. then i understood ..

and i also thought of something my father told me a long time ago .. about never being able to go back (home) because nothing remains the same once one leaves .. as teens we believe there is permanence in friends and the "hood" .. but i found my dad was right (again) :))
love your poem .. puts me in a good place!
E.

[icelandicblue]

We find our way home again even if it is in our minds. Those who stay behind often talk about the time before as the good old days because changes happen everywhere. The tree can wait but sometimes I hear him whispering my name on especially tough days, it doesn't mean I answer, I just know its waiting.

[Einstein Noodle]

yes .. the tree awaits us all and its not a fearful thing ;) and yes .. our true home is somewhere else :) peace and flowers Icey Girl!
E.

[Terpsichore]

In the end we cannot escape our roots, nor should we, they make us what we are. Trees know this and are content in the knowledge.

T

[icelandicblue]

Thank you for that beautiful thought.

[Rene Salinas]

This brough back memories from a move by Andrei Tarkovsky and the symbolism of the tree. And the comparision I guess continues in so far as when we are just born, we are weak and flexible and at the ends of life hardenes and less sensitive. When a tree is growing, it's tender and pliant. But when it's dry and hard, it dies. Hardness and strength are death's companions.

That would apply to the tree of life though knowledge doesn't not abide the same rules.

Thankyou

[icelandicblue]

I like that very much, hardness and strength are death's companions. Thank you so much for reading and for the review.

[icelandicblue]

I just looked Andrei Tarkovsky up and read about his use of trees as symbolism, and he used them a lot in a myriad of ways. It was really interesting reading. I did read an article on Ivan’s Childhood: The Tree of Life and perused a few other articles. I hadn't thought of trees in many of the ways he had and how he used that symbolism in his films. Thank you for broadening my horizons.

[Rene Salinas]

Oh, Ice I share the same enthusiasm you do, and I agree he was a gifted artist. Thankyou for your writing. I hope to make a habitual stop to your page from now on if you don't mind...

[jacob erin-cilberto]

wow, putting down roots after this life is over...there is contentment awaiting us...there is hope...

and there is something so beautiful about what doesn't change in 200 years, but stays consistent.

i like the personification and how the tree has waited for you, long enough.

nice contemplation here.

[icelandicblue]

Thank you so much jacob. We all stop running eventually.