I would like to think that Somewhere,
a tree once sprouted
the very day I took my first breath
its leaves reaching for light
as I learned to open my eyes.

That it grew in silence
as I laughed,
cried,
broke,
healed
marking each year
in quiet rings beneath its bark.

It never knew my name,
and I never knew its shade.
Yet still,
it stood
growing beside me
like some secret twin of time.

And that on the day I leave this world,
it will too.
cut down
as if the world knew
our stories
were meant to end together.

A life
mirrored in roots and branches,
never crossed paths
but somehow,
it would understand me
better than most ever would.