Gravity and the Willow Trees

Drew Johnson

Mrs. Gustafson’s 11th Grade; Principal or Director: Kevin Rogers

Marcus High School, Argyle, Texas, USA

I see the moon

Through the leafless branches

Of an oak

Gaunt fingers stretching towards the night

Young, but wrinkled and jagged

Lonely under the night's sky

No stars to give her spotlight

Not even a shadow

I saunter through your fallen leaves

As everyone does me

I see your tears

In a puddle on the ground

Colors of the fall

I walk lonely down the street

Empty houses

Empty cars

Towards more dead trees

Not even squirrels to cheer my exodus

Onward

Just me and my shadow

Sometime he is ahead

Leading me

Onward

...Sometimes it is at my side

Neither leading nor following

... Sometimes he is behind

Lingering

Swallowing my time into its darkness

A stagnant weight

An injured friend

Carried onward

With no injury

I remember in springs past

Never did my shadow move

Always in front

The spotlight behind me

The goal straight ahead

In the way of the shadow

Does a shadow have a soul?

Or tears?

Do the drivers driving by-

With the leaves on branches blocking the view

And Christmas lights in the backdrop

The drivers whose eyes

I will never stare into

Who I will never know

And who will never know me

The plastic puppet in a plastic car

-have a soul?

If he were to die would I ever know?

Would anyone weep?

Does that driver see the world

As big as I see it?

Does he have a shadow

Or is he a shadow?

Frozen sunlight

The earth eclipsed

No longer will the air be hazy

No longer will your tears fall

Spring will arise

A new year

Beginning

A new life

Free of snow and tears

Flowers bloom

And the trees grow tall

And the stars will not desert you

I see the moon

Through the leafless branches

Of an oak

Gaunt fingers stretching towards the night

Young, but wrinkled and jagged

Lonely under the night's sky

No stars to give her spotlight

Not even a shadow

To stop me

From sauntering through your fallen tears