The Mountain Laurel
The Journal of Mountain Life

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from the
Heart of the Blue Ridge


The Pomegranate Tree

By Bill Shipman © 1988

Issue: November, 1988

"Our pomegranate tree is sick," I said,
"The Bark is rough and some leaves are dead,
The fruit is bitter and hard and dry,
And I hate so much to see it die."

"I know," she spoke, and her voice held tears,
"But it's been neglected so many years,
While it's given all it had to give
And tried it's very best to live."

"It's sad, so sad to see it die
When we could have saved it, you and I;
It could have been so good, so strong,
But we let it die, and that was wrong."

Her eyes were sad as she turned away,
And that was all she had to say;
But the saddest thing of all to me
Is that she wasn't talking about
the pomegranate tree.