By Darla Elaine Fitzgerald

Towering and powerful, I stood proud. Ever changing and growing from season to season. Visions of my purpose and creation of art, I was handmade perfection through the harvest of love. Burnished oak, I am lionhearted and strong. Designed for the soul’s reflection of life.

Backwards and forwards, rocking in rhythm. Hearing a father singing his baby to sleep. Provider of solitude for concerns of the day. Keeper of secrets sheltered in the night.

Near the fireplace shadows dance with memories. Blanket for warmth laid on my shoulders. My arms are worn and legs scarred with scratches. Character of age adds beauty of the years.

Generation to generation, I will never grow weary. Rocking in rhythm with the movement of time.