Winsor&Newton watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm
Every branch shaking, shifting, and falling in the icy wind,
A tiny leaf at the very end holds strong,
Why am I here, questioning wondering waiting, for that final pulse that will blow him down?
But in that tree was a force, a force of life, a force of strength, a force unmatched by the icy wind.
That tree was a young tree, a tree that never crossed roots with wild bushes,
Bore fruits desired by many, tasted by few and discarded by the very planter,
Questioning why am I here, questioning is this the only way,
Now the broken branch begins to fall, now this tree was not very tall,
No other tree was like this tree, this tree was special,
This tree was bearing the strain of an icy wind,
Just as the branch had hit the ground there was silence all around a calm in the drifting storm
Now
this was rare, a tree this young, a tree this strange, a neglected
tree, a tree with shallow roots, a tree with hollow bark had survived
the storm.
Questioning why me?
This tree was a lonely tree,
this
tree knew he would grow strong,
weak body strong thoughts kept the tree
unmoved on broken paths.
Extract from “A tree” – Emmanuel Mohanlall
