Apple Tree Poem by Rae Carroll

There was an apple tree in my backyard
The feat of climbing it was very hard
But when all the children came out to play
It was climbing it that they spent the day
It was bound to happen anyway
Still the snap scared my breath away
The little leg of the little boy
Was snapped in two like a broken toy
They said he would never walk
Now the tree seemed to mock
The joy that it had once brought
To all the kids around the block
It was all my fault! I knew
And still the tree grew and grew
No more children came to play
I wouldn’t have let them either way
When I heard the laughter I couldn’t believe
I asked him if it could really be
That he could still live so happily
But when his eyes looked up at me
In their blue depths I could see
A little boy climbing up the apple tree