I am the Elder Tree
No longer growing.
I am consumed by insects, mitochondria, fungi,
The lichens and the moss.
I am the Elder Tree
Whose branches held aloft
Your childhood fantasies of mighty ships
Plowing through the green leaves of pirate seas.
Only my hard grain remains;
Patterns of erosion,
Until that too, softens,
Becomes a honey comb of memory;
A fragile lace, particulating into the earth.
Now, steadied by your cane,
You walk this path,
Still skirt my massive trunk,
Stepping around the memory of me
After I have become the eternity of the forest floor.
