The oak

The oak

The oak
in my backyard
holds twisted rope and wood,
reminder of a childhood fort
long lost.

Our dad,
our staunchest friend
though often pirate foe,
built us a house for all our dreams -
sky high.

We climbed
hand over hand
up to the very top,
surveyed our vast domain with pride
‘till bed.

We grew
and spread our wings,
explored the seven seas,
came back but rarely, in a rush,
then fled.

Last week
we got the news,
returned from whence we’d gone,
held hands, looked up and thought of him
and wept.

A "crown conquain", first place winner in "Famous First Words" contest (Invalid Item ). A "cinquain" is a five line, 22 syllable. poem written with a strict syllable count per line in a 2-4-6-8-2 patterns. A "crown cinquain" is a set of five cinquains, each which should stand as a poem on its owjn, but which go together in some way, either with a refrain or repetition, or, as in this case, with a story to be told.

Per the instructions in the contest, the first three lines of the first cinquain is taken from “Shade Tree”, by Jeanne Cassler