Bella Shepard

The Memory Forest

 


The stage of life has come for sure

When there is less to live than more

And knowing this I have no fear

But now reflect on all that’s dear

 

My family grown, just him and me

And this is how it’s meant to be

It’s time to make the plans as must

Deliver us to that earthly dust

 

I pause to think of what is best

And contemplate that final rest

No stuffy, wooden box for me

I think that I should like a tree

 

Reduce me to ash, and comingle well

With fertile soil where I may dwell

Dig the hole and place me there

And whisper please, a gentle prayer

 

Then place the sapling tree just so

That together we might grow

Into a tree of rest and shade

For those who wander in the glade

 

Around me I shall hope to find

Souls with whom I shared like mind

Who understood the beauty of

The branch where perched the turtle dove

 

They knew that far beneath the earth

A microcosm of life does birth

Another world far from our eyes

Where the green and beautiful forest lies

 

So when this life of mine is done

The trees and I shall be as one

Then I shall rest contentedly

In the Memory Forest of eternity