A Tree From A Tree

:Sterling L. Brown:

Irony has its ways,
inspiration comes just as clandestine as the 
best and most confident confidence man.
And when you capture it you must grasp it,
and try to make it work for you.

I was sitting on my friends front porch,
when I saw a tree growing from a tree.
I thought nature was constant;
from what I knew, a dead tree was such.
Apparently, this case was different, but like no
difference I had ever known existed.
I saw the inner works of the tree, its heart
and guts, plus his skin and thus.
It had to be that the tree was dead on
the outside but its core; not his 
roots this time, but his soul center
was alive and growing.
The leaves crept up in the dead
branches and they looked like a jail cell
built to conceal them leaves.
But, somehow, you knew time would provide those
leaves to overcome their (captors).
And I breathed deep and closed my eyes.
	In the midst of my temporary temperament,
	having been recently being kicked out of my apartment,
	and in the last six months,
having a near death experience,
and while losing one aunt,
almost my grandpa and one best friend,
plus, getting laid off my good job for no 
reason but bullshit, 
and not to forget almost fucking up my grades
and losing my scholarship,
I can still find myself growing.
I felt like dying, but I didn't dwell on it.
	Because even if I am afraid of approaching
	my worst fear and am telling him
	that I am ready to be left alone, 
	only after a little more help toward the finish line.
	I can say to him, "I'm still racing."
And I opened my eyes and the leaves,
the leaves
-breathe-
gave the idea of growing inside
knowing my time and watching it
and trying not to waste it even when 
my soul tells me I am;
they were all I saw.
And I thought about my friends porch,
the guitar lesson I just had,
about how I was growing toward dreams
and wishes I wanted to fulfill.
and I just got another job
the papers weren't that far from being done
so things probably weren't that bad.
It was a tree growing inside a tree,
that made me find that hope
inside me.