Just a Tree

Familiar branches
Outstretched to me today, 
Just a tree?
No.

This tree is family,
It's where I learned to climb,
Have courage, 
To look in awe from
The highest heights, 
And feel like never coming down.
Just a tree?
No.

This tree has weathered,
With many a child gathered
Around it's great girth
Through the years;
Who searched among its patch of leaf-littered earth, 
To claim it’s annual treasure trove - 
Fresh conkers,
Spiky-shelled seeds of joy,
With which to conquer
The art of friendships,
Relationships.
Just a tree?
No.

This tree was our social media,
Grasping at boughs with calloused hands,
(proper digit stabbing, bark not screen lark) - 
We swung together;
Finding ropes from our parents' sheds,
Hammers, boards, 
Laughing together, we ate our hoards, 
Told stories and put the world to rights!
Just a tree?
No.

A childhood.
Yes.

Don't look back they say,
Look forward.
But I can't bear to,
When all I see is - 
Just a tree.

Bowing out of life.
Bereft of it's seeds of joy now, 
Bereft of children.

Just a tree.
Dying before me.

A Wensley
Inspired by a veteran horse chestnut in 'The Gully' - East Quantoxhead