I loved the seedless tree—the leaves it bore,
its bark, riddled and riotous and rough;
and I would give up fruit trees just for more—
of fruitless shade I never had enough.
I hope it knew how fond I was. I can
relate to how unloved it might have been.
To be so far from where its life began,
to be unfit to make new trees again.
But you gave me dear shade, you lovely tree.
I was your son—you were my father, more
than some of those who gave their seeds to me,
you gave what you could not have ever bore.
Dear lonely, desperate, seedless tree, stand still:
your bark and branches did more than seeds will.
~~~
Deserve, deserve, deserve, it is applied
to all for all rewards of any size,
and those who want it most will be denied,
while those who deserve bad will get good’s prize.
Of course it isn’t always so. But look
at all those you have ever loved—did they
get what they well deserved? Or was it shook
before their face before it went away?
I dare to say that most that you love most
were teased with what they yearned for, cruelly,
and yet the ones who have it get to boast
that they achieved it all amorally.
Love gets not what’s deserved, and dies with want—
all good hearts live with undeserving taunt.