Upon Seeing a Stump Where a Tree Once Was
When in the park, I passed a felled oak tree
That once with lofty boughs would softly sway.
At least, I’m sure, it must have waved that way
Had I but stopped with eyes willing to see.
Had I but stopped and let the leaves shade me
And dozed a moment on too hot a day,
Or heard the thrush and rushing children play,
Would this have helped that aged oak to be
Not twice felled now, in mind and upon earth?
Or is its swaying all the softer for
A passing glance that never stung the soul?
For now its roots delve deeper in the dirt,
And look, its branches spread forevermore,
To fan out dressed in all of autumn’s gold.
Conor McGinley is a copywriter based out of Brooklyn, New York.
This is a beautiful ode to Fall! Thank you for capturing the hidden potential of our companion— nature.
The many little “stops” to repeat words or sounds make the poem read especially reflectively. The last “look” fixes the felled tree in memory. Good work, Conor.
Fantastic sense for imagery and wonder. Love you work.
We don’t know what we’ve got till it’s gone – and then we have the temerity to miss it.
This is a good sonnet with more than meets the eye. Your use of metaphor is skillful: you take an ordinary scene and show us its greater significance. Failing to appreciate what one has until it’s gone is a poignant theme, and you meditate on it in an appropriately poignant tone.
Just like the oak described, this poem is worth revisiting for its thoughtful and beautiful dimension. Thank you for sharing your work.