Tree of Life

Wrote it on a rainy day, at least four years ago.

Does the tree feel more pain
or the branch that falls off?
does bark feel the same pain
when it peels off?

will it forget their existence
when another takes its place?
or will it remember being more,
the sum of all that came before?

does it mourn the fallen, sunk to slumber
or those that might fall next summer?
should it rejoice that it has lived long
should it just reach to live on

does it know what it is to be wise
who am I to tell otherwise?