Here I stand

Tall and unyielding, forever unable to move from where I was placed.

For 200 years I have watched you grow

So much you have done in such a short amount of time

Like you I started out a small sapling,

Weak and unsure of my place in this world.

Surrounded by so many of my kin

I didn’t stand out amongst them

I was one of a thousand of the same.

But one by one as I grew taller my family grew smaller,

You cut them down to make way for new things.

Roads and homes, parks and schools,

You grew large in number almost as many as my kin.

Soon I was alone,

Surrounded, not by family, but by brick and lumber,

Cold and empty.

Where once you and I shared a love of life,

We now were separated by thick walls of stone.

Soon this too shall pass though, as I have seen you come and go,

Falling in and out of love with nature.

And with me.

But you always come back,

With loving arms.

After 2 centuries I still stand tall,

All thanks to you.

And so here I stand.