My Family Tree

Author Sarah Steele

My Family Tree

Sarah Steele

I am a leaf—
one leaf on a long branch
of my father’s ten children,
one branch of four bursting from
my grandparents’ scarred trunk.

And I scan the tree
only to see addiction at every intersection—
the kind found in hazy substances and
manipulating drama and all-consuming careers,
the kind that is obsessed with a high or
toxic people or success

and all at the neglect of little buds,
barely open, begging for nourishment,
receiving leftover drops.

And in horror, I recognize addiction in myself
when I please the person to receive their praise or
do the good deed to be applauded or
say yes—obsessively ever yes—to 
win the trophy of God’s favor.

And suddenly, I feel the branch 
begin to vibrate, 
growing steadily fiercer, and 
I cling to this branch— 
the only one I’ve ever known—
with all my might, 
and I realize someone is
hacking away at our branch, 
trying to remove us from this trunk.

And we fall and thud to the ground, 
shaken and silent and lacking understanding

until the Gardener picks us up, preparing 
to graft us into his own family tree.

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Poems & Paraboles publishes work that illuminates, awakens, or opens a small window toward wonder. Some pieces are quiet. Some are bold. Some carry a moral thread, while others wander into the mysterious and ethereal.

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