This started off as a poem. As I continued to write, it sort of turned into a story. So now it's a poem-fic/story thing, basically. I tried a new layout for it, so hopefully you like it.
Here it stands.
For me, a symbol.
To others, a sign.
To other others, a plant. They don't even acknowledge it as a young sapling tree.
It's the one I salvaged from a neglected corner in those harsher kitchen gardens.
I had passed it on to Tahl, and she planted it. Upside down. Oops.
I suppose blindness is to blame for that. I won't forget the quirky smile on her lips.
I had come to check on the sapling...
Her smile broadened and became wry as she realized what she'd done.
Obi-Wan came to water it. He nearly drowned the poor thing.
But that sapling was good and determined to live.
Obi-Wan kept watering it. Gently.
Bant came with compost. Gleb rations nobody wanted didn't work, we soon learned. Our sapling seemed to prefer fruit scraps.
Garen stopped by and trimmed back an obtrusive bush.
Now it had more light. Now he was growing. Now he was thriving.
Yoda limped by on his way to find a place to meditate.
He meditated beside it. I think it enjoyed the new company.
The Younglings didn't know any better. He was run over in a game of tag.
All of us-Tahl, Obi-Wan, Bant, Garen, and Yoda-struggled to raise it back up again.
It came back. No the same, but still back.
Missions came along...
We went our separate ways.
The sapling was only a baby. It was such a simulated, fake environment. It couldn't take care of itself; not yet.
One by one we returned to find it had withered into dry leaves and snapped sticks.
We used it as compost for that obtrusive bush.
No one else knew it was missing. But those that did found themselves lucky.
Tahl thought it smelled like pine forests; her favorite scent.
Obi-Wan thought its petals looked like the crystals of Ilum.
Bant saw a thousand points of light in its center.
Garen saw a fallen hero's green lightsaber in the stem.
Yoda found the leaves to be softer than clouds of silk.
And I? I saw the living Force. I saw nature and love. I saw compassion and thankfulness; the sapling giving back.
So… didja enjoy it? Please review.