The Acorn

by Gary Martens

An acorn when it’s born

Wants to be an oaken tree

Though oft this drive is met with scorn

And is not always meant to be

Failing to become a tree

Is not the end it seems to be

The dormant acorn can become

A delicious morsel for someone

And failing even that

An acorn can decay

To provide a bounteous buffet

To organisms living in the clay

And so you see

That in all three

Of the options life provides to thee

None are without validity

Now if some acorns yield some trees

The worth can humbly be conveyed

In numerous abilities

One of these to provide a shade

Not only shade but the habitat it brings

For birds and other living things

To cycle nutrients from the deep

And produce acorns and leaves to eat

An oaken tree can live a hundred years

And then extend its life a hundred more

By being cut down and sold in a store

As houses, furniture or a door

An acorn is an analogy

Of great human propensity

If then so much from one so small

What of the potential for us all