Fifteen Rings / Green man

A poem about a Linden tree at a place where I work

Fifteen Rings / Green Man


A decade and five years passed since we first met
To my eye you have changed barely at all
Fifteen rings you have made, fair Linden
Fifteen rings you have shared with me
You have watched me age and change
I have sat beneath your shade for each of those summers
Lamented the fall of your sun yellow leaves
I have sat with you, quietly, during your sleeping
Watching in awe of your hoar frost cloak
During all those bitter Winters we have shared
In Spring you were playful, once removing my glasses
With your branch that hangs like a door to the woods
And I wonder of time, of who has stood beneath you
I dwell on the thought of you stood all alone
When I'm tangled beneath your roots
When the birds have raced to oblivion
Who will sit quietly by your side?