A TREE BLOCKED MY PATH
On the first day of winter, it fell,
A cross, blocking my path home.
It was so large that all day,
Only with my neighbor’s help, I could clear the way.
For half of the long winter,
It kept my chimney full of embers and ash.
Yet I never forgot
That miserable day of the unfortunate tree.
I forgot its good shade,
The songs of birds in its branches.
I forgot the freshness it gave for a lifetime.
I never forgave it for that day,
Oh, nor the sorrow of that day.
It blocked my path when it fell, that tree,
Without its fault.
I forgot all its goodness,
But never that day.
When even a tree falls,
What about man?
And we do not forgive.