The Cherry Tree

[mr_blue_owl]

The Cherry Tree

 

I ask the driver to pull into the side of the road and stop

I wind down the window and gaze over the dry stone wall.

It is still there in the meadow.

The cherry tree.

The tree where we used to meet on those summer days

So long ago.

I climb out of the car and clamber over the wall

The cherry tree.

I see that still there are our faint but unmistakable initials

Inside a heart that was carved with my pocket knife.

A soft and gentle breeze springs from nowhere

It seems to carry your voice which is calling out my name.

I can see your smile as we embrace

Lost in a cloud of young love’s sweet passion.

I can hear your voice whispering secrets in my ear.

I can see your eyes sparkling blue in the golden sunset.

I run my fingers over the initials in the gnarled bark

The cherry tree.

I return to the car and sit in a reverie, thinking of how it was

How it might have been.

I ask the driver to move on and we proceed down the lane

I hear the crash of metal against a dry stone wall.

I realise we are driving around a bad bend in the road.

A very bad bend.

I glance at the driver but he has obviously heard nothing.

We drive into the village

We pass the place where I know you are lying alone

Waiting for me.

I glance through the cemetery gates

I see a tree that has grown right next to where you rest

A cherry tree

I do not go and feel the bark for our initials

But I know they will be there