Think Like a Tree

Think Like a Tree

I wasn’t ready for life’s road stretching out before me,

It wasn’t as fun as I expected it to be,

I whined, I complained, until I learned,

 The lessons taught by an old fruit tree,

In the middle of an orchard the tree quietly stood,

He was the oldest and wisest in that neighborhood,

Although ancient and twisted his heart was still good,

I questioned him thoroughly about things he knew,

From seedling to adulthood, all the years he grew,

“Tell me your secret for being young so long,

How did you endure when things went wrong?

And how did you manage to stay so strong?”

The tree scratched his head, then smiled at me,

“Life will never be easy, as you can plainly see,

Adjust and be positive, and think like a tree,

There are a few things you ought to know,

Trees serve others and they’re not for show,

If a branch is barren or doesn’t grow,

There’s no reason to keep it, just let it go,

A tree needs to compete to be the best around,

But if it bears no fruit, cut it down,

It’s tragic to waste good fertile ground,”

He hesitated and drew a deep breath,

“If a tree produces it’s still not left alone,

It’s pruned each year even while grown,

It will be healthier and productive, a fact well known,

Often a tree tries too hard,

When too much is produced a tree must be thinned,

The remaining fruit will grow larger,” he said as he grinned,

“But if there’s too much fruit the limbs might break,

How soon, how much, it’s something a gardener must tweak,

A tree doesn’t want to be crowded,

It needs space to be free,

A tree needs to improve constantly, don’t you agree?”

I was ashamed of my previous actions,

Because I had been thinking only about me,

The way the old tree explained it I could see,

Life is not as harsh as I made it out to be,

If I need to be pruned to produce more in life,

I’ll adjust and be positive and think like a tree.