The Selfish Tree

In a forest clearing stands alone,
A dying tree,
Her branches twisted from the years of winds that've blown,
Gnarled and deformed in misery,
She reaches out for sympathy,
Her leaves have all fallen to the ground before her,
Sacrificing themselves to feed her soil,
And self pitying she weeps,
For the days long gone and the memories she keeps,
Her long life drawing near it's end,
She recalls the way she used to bend,
When she was a sapling thin and green,
Dancing in the sunlight,
And all the years in between,
Greedily she sucks up all the rain,
Trying to preserve herself in vain,
Caring not for the new shoots arriving,
Seeking her shade to keep on thriving,
She wants to stand alone and free,
With no competition from other trees,
And the seeds she dropped,
She tried to stifle,
But still they cropped,
And became her rivals,
The bitter fruits she cast away,
Provided them nutritrients to her dismay,
Her wicked intentions mattered not,
And standing alone when the sun was hot,
She burnt for lack of cover,
If only she had trusted another,
Perhaps she might have grown stronger,
She might have lived a little longer,
Rather than rotting from her roots,
If she had not envied her offsprings youth,
Perhaps they would have grown tall and strong,
To protect her when the days were long,
Her pride and greed became her undoing,
Her spiteful ways proved unworth pursuing,
But alas the realization came too late,
To this selfish tree,
Who sealed her own fate.