Years ago in my newly built home <br />A curry leaf sapling, I planted in form; <br />I nursed it like my own child with care <br />And it grew into a tree with luxuriant fare <br /> <br />The winged visitors’ host and abode <br />To partake in its bountiful hoard <br />Of fruits and seeds in the wee hours of dawn <br />And make a merry chirp to wake me at morn <br /> <br />The curry leaves plucked fresh from the tree <br />Added aroma and taste to the cuisines free; <br />Nature’s bounties freely shared, new friends made <br />From lashing rains, it yielded shield and in summer shade <br /> <br />All living bodies must perish one day <br />My mossy tree too showed signs of decay <br />Termites at the roots boring through its core <br />Gave me an inkling of what is in store <br /> <br />With barren boughs in summer and all leaves shed <br />The tree looked naked and the branches wilted <br />When the rains brought forth new sprouts of foliage <br />The load brought it down without any damage <br /> <br />Plants and trees, our closest eco friends, living <br />To serve other creatures without self and dying, <br />Etch a golden memory in our minds, lingering <br />To mourn them for long, their fond eulogies singing<br /><br />Venkateswaran Krishnan Sreenivasan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-fallen-tree-an-epitaph/
