DietmarNov2017
The Stories of Two Trees
Only two trees in my garden
Because it is small, and not a park,
No swimming pool either
Some bushes, some flowers at the borders
A summer lilac, roses, and hydrangea
The two trees though are special
Magnificent Maple trees both
Different Maple trees
The noise of their leaves in the wind
Whisper past and future stories
The Palmate Maple
Planted for my daughter’s birth
As it is a custom when a child is born
You plant a tree, growing then
Like the child
Who gets taller year by year,
Lifting and spreading her arms
Like the branches of the tree
To reach the sky
With her feet firm on the ground
Like the roots firmly anchored
To defy wind and weathers
The Big Leaf Maple
Once grew as a wild shoot
In the one-square-metre
Backyard garden of a parking lot
Nursed and cultivated
By my mother-in-law
As she finally accepted me
In her family
I planted it in my garden
When she died
Now I am thinking of her
When reading in its shade
In summer
Now I am thinking of her
In autumn
When collecting its fallen leaves
Think of stories of the future
Think of stories of the past
DIETMAR, November, 2017