A tree blocked my path

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.