Heartwood

                                    

Heartwood

You’ve heard all the old cliches

About the acorn and the tree

But this little nut took a Southbound roll 

Way down to Tennessee

Sprouted in the Northern woods

Spindly straight and growing strong 

Shaded and protected until

She branched out on her own

With trunk and limbs about the same 

Lanky, long, and slim yet stout

Though adapted to the Southern soil

Her roots leave little doubt

The wind that whistles through her leaves

Past the Mason Dixon Line

Blows a strain of Yankee twang

Among her Kudzu vines

Germinating two young saplings 

Stock from her own seed

To start a Southland grove made up 

Of Benjamin Oak trees

Developing distinctive traits

From the woods from whence they came

Whereas those lean left ... these lean right 

Different yet the same 

And now she’s found companionship 

With a Louisiana Pine

Each day and night spent forested

Their Heartwood intertwined

John snelling

08:08:20