Sunday, June 15, 2008

The Old Man And The Tree

There is a tree across the way at the summer home.  It’s a forlorn creature that looks as if all its hands have been cut off.  But the wounds dried up long ago—but not in a healthy way, the round patches parched and no longer struggling.  A few twigs dangle off the limbs, the sullen, brown leaves are tufts of mangy hair on the old man who rides his bicycle up and down the street all day.  They do resemble each other, the old man and the tree.  Perhaps it is the reason they pass each other, the man with his methodical pedaling and the tree with its slow, stooped hunch to arid death.  The man would like to see a being like himself, lurking through time with him, watching the molasses hours with him.  When the old man stops his visits I will be convinced the tree is dead.

8 comments:

Emily said...

Ooooh it's like The Old Man And The Sea.
Except... completely different, except for the rhyming thing.

Anyway, I like this. Old people scare me - just thinking about my own body someday preparing me for death absolutely freaks me out. I guess if you read Kaitlin stuff though you can see beauty in just about anything. :)

breezylucia said...

whoa
this is a really thoughtful comparison. and i love it.

Anonymous said...

Death, companionship, alliteration and metaphor. I so love "molasses hours". How descriptive is that? I can see it and feel it. It's like the shimmering light/bubble that protrudes from the bodies of the characters in Donnie Darko, only this man's light/bubble develops more slowly. It does not protrude from the man's body as far or as quickly, and he can't move (or bike) through the hours faster than this leading force allows. His life will drone on like this until death, but there is beauty in that he shares his curse with this tree. However sad and slow his life, he is not and will never be utterly alone.

Candace said...

i remember that old man. and the stories we came up with for him. this a pretty little piece. i am very fond of it. pensive.

Chelle said...

This was great. And I especially love the last sentence.

Anonymous said...

this was very winsome.

i read it three times and i got more and more out of it each time i read it.

well done my friend.

breezylucia said...

hey, did you update?

GINAR said...

this would be really cute if it weren't an old man.
eff old people they smell weird.