Lyrics

The Flowering

Outside of our cottage
There is a gnarled and knotted old tree.
Two main branches cleave its time-blackened trunk.
One of the pair is sawn off close to the
Crossing place, a victim perhaps of age or insects;
The other, though bare and sleeping now because
Of winter, is still reaching; creating new shoots.
Life when cut off at one end
Will surge and spread its energy elsewhere.
Like the woman who left the cottage behind.
Widowed and left alone to care for a son.
Wed at nineteen and mourning one year later;
Gone to marry a new man.