Patrick White(1912-1990)

A flourishing deciduous tree, splendid

in the sunshine of the late afternoon

and just before sunset,

at the evening when all is calm.

A tree whose bright foliage

protected you from the rain

on an early autumn day

when you rested your weary back

against its bark.

A tree under a blue sky

which carried no seed,

never had a sapling growing

beside it. A tree

which was the beginning and the end.

When the leaves fell the last time

no spring ever brought them back.

17.08.2016