The Cherry Blossom Poem by Justin Reamer

Mother, do not worry,
You are not old,
Yet you may be aged,
But that doesn’t matter,
For God has blessed you in so many ways that
You just cannot see right now.

You were once a seed,
An embryo in your mother’s womb,
And then you began to sprout
When you became a baby.
As a sapling,
You became a child,
Inquisitive of the world around you,
Uncertain of what you see,
For you did not know what you were about.

Then you began to become a tree,
And your cherries blossomed,
For you became a beautiful woman
That all men began to notice
For you had become fruitful,
And everyone loved your beauty.

Each year, your trunk grew,
And you grew more mature every day,
For you were not the weak pre-teen
You had once been,
But a strong grown woman,
In her youth still,
But as sturdy as the cherry blossom
That grew for many years.

You then began to marry,
And your offspring multiplied,
And they nourished off of your love,
Of the fruit you had grown for them.
Your trunk gave them stability,
Your roots gave them foundation,
Your leaves gave them protection and comfort,
And your fruit gave them nourishment.
You loved each of them as your own,
And you, cherry blossom, have grown stronger.

Each year, you become stronger,
And you persevere the harsh winters
And the obstacles that would kill you
Had you not known how to deal with them.
And every spring,
You recover,
And grow stronger,
And know how to nurse your offspring,
And by becoming stronger,
You give them strength.

Now, your trunk is wide and sturdy,
For you are at the prime of your life,
You have experienced much,
And you know how to deal with life at hand.
You now train your offspring so that they
Can do things for themselves,
And you help them grow into the world
Around them,
So they may be healthy and responsible.

Because of you,
And your sturdy foundation made of wood,
Elyse can be a good mother,
I can be a good father,
Sean can be a good father,
And Stef can be a good mum, as well.
You are the reason we live,
Because you have nourished us,
And we couldn’t live without you.
Your giving love,
Like in Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree,
Did so much for all of us,
Because you nourished us with
Everything you could ever give.

We thank you for that,
And we love you with all of our hearts.