Ode to the Betrayer

Under your shade she played
You grew up with her smiles
Nourishing those sustained motions.
Your branches made the anchor,
That gripped her swaying swings

Your watchful eyes discovering
Renewed passions, joy and tears
Resting beneath thy helpless shade
Consoling and concealing.
Still she shared the fruits you bore
Sweet or sour, it warmed her heart.

Thou, witnessing her steep ladders
Trials and merits, dreams unfulfilled
Frail coward, why oh why?
Shedding your leaves in the midst of spring
Unasked, fearing autumn’s rage

You knew, she liked mangoes raw
Still turned them ripe with the pace of time.
Her generous hands
That watered your hopes
Now limp, a pathetic blue.

Coward,
You never knew
When you shed your leaves
And ripened your fruits
That death awaits your miserable self
For you will bear the ashes
That makes a kindred soul
Blameless and eternal
Forgetting and forgiving

(A mango tree who witnessed a child’s growth and eventually became her funeral pyre)