Underneath the Willow Tree | Teen Ink

Underneath the Willow Tree

November 30, 2023
By escape-artist BRONZE, Draper, Utah
escape-artist BRONZE, Draper, Utah
4 articles 1 photo 1 comment

Staring into the void of secrets 

A threshold that only the dead may cross 

Flashing silver in my hand 

Remembering…


Seven years before:

Younger than the dawn,

I remember the day I learned of dark clouds

Dressed in white, an unrecognizable face

I’ll think of you under the willow tree


January: 

Traveled painless 

Is what they say 

I’ll miss you, companion 

I’ll think of you under the willow tree 


May:

Orange flowers wilt

And your hand grows cold

I can’t help but stare at the empty hospital bed

I’ll think of you under the willow tree


July:

I hated to watch you suffer

That terrible pain

You’ll always be in the stars

I’ll think of you under the willow tree


November:

I spoke to you the day before

Your smile is burned in me

I couldn’t stop the tears

From running rivers down my cheeks

I’ll think of you under the willow tree


I never knew you

Never saw you

Yet still I cry for you

I wonder what your life was like

I’ll think of you under the willow tree


I see your face in the mirror

I can’t remember the last time I smiled at you

Something so shattered

I’ll bury your broken pieces 

Underneath the willow tree


The author's comments:

I've never really truly understood loss or death until this year. Even now I'm still figuring it out. 

This, coupled with mental health issues, has made for one of the most bittersweet years of my life. 

And so here you have it, suicide and death, two subjects commonly shied away from, tied into a weaving knot in the form of poetry.


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