The Seedling

A seed lay buried in tamped sod
Growing a two leafed head
Bowed and fragile yet breaking loose
From the hold of a determined bond
Of a possessive earthen cage

Earnestly it struggled to break free
Frail but prodigious creation
With its tiny roots sucking strength
To shove the heavy load pressed on
Puny shoulders and bent stalk
Eager to burst out into the sunlight

Somehow in its eagerness to grow
Its life was smothered by a blanket
Of mud slurry caused by a flood
Oh what a tragic and unjust fate
A seedling with leaves, a branch, a trunk
Snuffed of breath, denied of life

It would have been a grand acacia
With brawny brown branches
Holding up a heavy canopy of jade
Dominating a landscape of weak brushes
Majestic in its proud demeanor
Taming unruly and fractious winds