THE DESERTED TREE

                     

                   

                     1)          Alone like a lonely pilgrim yonder stood

                                    A tall, lean tree with crooked arms

                                    Not a trace of green, but dry barren wood

                                    Many,many years sapped his leafy charm

                                    Like an old wrecked vessel in raging storm

                                    Alone it stood from tip toe full brown

                                    Not a clump of green leaves adorned his crown.

                   2)            Who cares to see such barren dreary sight?

                                    No western wind approached with rustling sound

                                    No butterfly fluttered with pinions bright

                                    No graceful creeper to hug him around;

                                    No prop to bear his bending weight from ground

                                    In death-like silence like a ruined fortress grim

                                   A dreadful hag  seen in sinister dreams.

                 3)             No bird or beast for shade and shelter came

                                  No playful monkeys swing on branches bare

                                  Marks of stormy gale dented his weary frame

                                  A mute witness to many things, with none to share

                                  His grey-gone past who hears, no time to spare !

                                  His seasoned strength withstood so many storms

                                  So many blows he bore with sturdy arms

                 4)            His sinewy roots searched deep into the ground

                                 To touch the nourishing springs beyond our sight

                                 Still rooted firm like a mountain sound      

                                 Struggling alone under the scorching light ;

                                 Despite his age, trusting in Nature’s might

                                 His branching arms outstretched into the sky

                                 As if he nursed still aspirations high.   

                 5)           Like an old man left in his humble cot

                                Absorbed in woes and joys of events past

                                Engulfed in solitude and silence fraught ;

                                Like a lonely sailor in windy tempests caught

                                And thrown like junk on God-forsaken shore

                                Where no voice heard but turbulent ocean’s roar.

            6)               Standing alone like a pillar carved in sandstone

                               Of some dilapidated temple old

                               Like a camel in dry desert alone

                               Exposed to winds of blazing fire and cold

                               The tree stood firm like a prophet bold ;

                               Cut off from worldly bonds of suffocating hold

                               Steadfast like an altar for all to behold.

                            **********************************************

              28th August, 2018                                 Somaseshu Gutala

           

Note : This poem is written in "Rhyme Royal " a stanzaic form with rhyme scheme "ABAB BCC". This verse form borrowed from the French verse was first used in English language by Geoffrey Chaucer in his narrative poems "Troilus and Criseyde" and in "The Parlement of Foules". William Wordsworth used this form in his famous poem"Resolution and Independence".

  Ref :  Nurse =care for ;  Cot = a simple cottage (Archaic)

  Altar = A platform where sacrifices are offered; a holy place.

  It suggests the noble selfless service of the old tree.