To Ease the Passing of Time

I am an old oak tree and I have been standing here, between the road and the river, for many years.

During all those years, since I had nowhere to go, I just stood there and watched the people come and go.

I saw children, dressed in the many colours of the flowers and the rainbow, dance around me, holding hands, laughing and singing happy songs.

And many years later, I saw them again, old men and women dressed in black, walking slowly and silently behind a black carriage covered with flowers.

I saw young lovers sitting in the grass under me giving themselves their hearts and souls, promising each other that they would be together forever.

And one day, I saw a young man with tears in his eyes tie a rope on one of my branches because the pain of losing her was just too great.

I saw young men marching proudly to their destiny, in pursuit of fame and glory, beating their drums and singing their patriotic songs.

And I saw them return a few months later, holding on to one another, some of them blind and others with only one arm or one leg, walking silently back home.

I have seen joys and sorrows, happiness and sadness, pleasure and suffering, life and death.

I have seen human beings living their lives in this small part of the universe that they share with the sun, the stars, the oceans, the rivers, the lakes, the trees, the plants and the animals.

One day, in a world that is still to come, human beings will know and understand that we have always been connected.