A Tree Within My Mind

My mind is like an old oak tree

Its branches reaching far and wide

Emotions twirled around each bough

Thoughts decorate each every side.

And people met and wove within

My life - they drape the outer bark

A covered core of layered spheres

Around a trunk of soul that’s dark.

The branches old are kith and kin

My friends that sprouted - diversity

And shape my tree about existence

Creating Minds University.

New experiences shape its leaves

Fresh and bold they shout delight

Pleasures taste and drink the air

Mere existence seeks to excite.

Then fall when time has had its way

In memory stores the dreams to sleep

And bare my branches stripped and cold

In my life’s sap it’s buried deep.

I bend to form and twist with strife

As hurts deform my fragile mind

Circumstances weep my spirit

Braids emotions as it intertwines .

My mind tree makes me who I am

My branches open - I welcome life

And roots dig deep - reach to the heart

I’m scarred - engraved upon with knife.

But I live - I grow - I feel - I think

Through hurt and hunger - still I learn

A passion runs throughout my being

As future shoots await their turn.