Tall Man
Tall Man
Lives in the garden of a terrace
Old and twisted he has seen it all
Bark brown flecked ambivalence
He reaches forlornly up to the sky
Always forlornly and forever to the sky
Is he reaching for the heaven that may be there
He’s pointing to the danger
Of the ever-present stare
The tall man has stretching arms
Arms of harrowing
Arms of happening
Arms of Earth’s bountiful goodness
If only we can see it
There’s the bridge where a man nearly contemplated jumping
It was “just a crush”
Ringing in his ears
When the planet has turned to ash and grey
The tall man will be pointing sadly to a grave
Tall man
Standing in a garden terrace
His twisted fingers
Contain great knowledge
Contain terrible wisdom
Contain eternal judgement
Tall man talk to me
Shadow me from obscurity
Tall man proud in his youth
Tall man one day green shoots
Tall man will stand for eternity
Fire his only enemy
Tall man reaching up for the sky
One day he will see the end
©John de Gruyther 2014
Tall Man
The World Outside the Window 
Very powerful writing. I love the analogy of the old man and the tree. Your repetition – ‘arms’, ‘tall man’, etc. reinforce and add structure to a strong an uncompromising message.
I really enjoyed the style and content of this piece. I suspect, and hope, that there’s more like this ready to be expressed. 🙂
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Thanks Rachael, your comments are always really helpful and encouraging. I think there is more ready to be expressed, I am working on a few pieces that I may develop in a themed project!? 🙂
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This morning looking out my bedroom window I noticed that Tall Man was gone.. I only took the photograph Sunday but since then he has been cut down 😦
Poetry based response to follow soon..
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That is truly weird.
Part of you must have known, so you immortalised him just in time…
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Beautiful, John. I remember walking past a tree on my way to work and giving it personification. This is a character now – I’d like to meet Tall Man and hear more of his stories.
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Thanks Greg, great comments – thanks so much 🙂
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