The Tree

An acorn
An acorn sitting in the man’s hands
A humble seed, yet
It longed to grow, reach its height in the world

A youngish man, he was
Old enough to be past his school years
Old enough to think he knew what would come in life
Yet young enough to be surprised when he didn’t

The man took the acorn home
He put soil in a pot
And the acorn in the soil
And began to nurture it

He watered it with his love
And fertilized it with his care
And the acorn grew into a small sapling
And the man was happy

He was happy for several years
And regardless of the day he had
Or the mood he was in
He always took care of the sapling

The sapling grew and grew
He was so proud of it
Breaking through its shell successfully into the world
The tree was his, and he loved it

Then, one day, the tree grew so big
That the pot the man had given it cracked
The man was not happy
For he wanted his tree to stay his

So he got a larger pot
And put the plant into it
And continued nurturing it
Hoping it would not grow too big again

But of course it did
And faster this time
For now the tree wanted to grow
It wanted to be free but still be loved

And more cracks, more cracks
So the man got more pots
Kept moving the tree again and again
Wishing it would stay with him

Sometimes the man would be angry with the tree
For growing so much toward freedom
But he knew it wasn’t its fault
And always regretted his anger

One day, the tree grew too big again
And created more cracks
But this time there was no bigger pot
And the man had no better option

So finally, after many years of love and nurturing
The man moved the tree one final time
This time into his yard’s garden
Where it would stay and grow forever

And the tree would always be there
And the man would always be with it, until he died
He would look out at the tree
And realize it was meant to be there all along
And sobbed