What are your memories old tree
as you stand there so silently?
The darkness around you your shroud
as you stand there so tall and so proud.

I would swim in your veins to your roots
and up through your branches where shoots
of new growth reach up hoping to give
you a few more short years to live.

But I fear for your frailty you giant
for an apple tree once supple and pliant
and hope that some part of you will
stay in my garden to still

give your shade and your apples to hold
all the stories and tales you have told
through your bark and your leaves to the air.
Please don’t go for my lack of good care.