I’m fully enamored of this little tree
perched on the edge of our property
that decided to grow horizontally
instead of competing with the crowd for light.

I think the tree knew that it was a joke
to compete with the strong, tall, mighty oak,
or get lost in wisteria’s strangling choke,
so it gave up on the upward fight

and said, I know what real survival’s about,
I don’t have to clutch, claw, scream and shout,
won’t conform to grow up, I’ll just grow out,
To a place where the sun is all mine.
I’ll grow my own way, and I’ll be just fine.