This is a poem that I wrote recently. It is a story about overcoming adversity, having dreams and hard work. Many people are not dealt the hand they had hoped for, many children grow up the way that I did, and we all have hard times that come. This is a story that shows no matter how dark the shadows, with dreams and hard work, we can still grow in spite of the shade. This story can trace it roots back to a little shaded spot by the creek in Auburn Kentucky that I would go when things were tough, or I had so much on my mind that I needed an escape. Here in the shadows by the water I could find a solace and a peace free of the grime that was around me. Here I could breath and dream of a place that was far away from the unfairness of it all. I would sit for hours and escape into my wild imagination. I could go anywhere and be anyone, this was my "Over the rainbow". I can still remember those dreams and recall those hours and I strive to be the tree that grew in those shadows in spite of the shade.

There was a tree born by the river,

In the shadow of many taller trees.

As this tree fought for sunlight

He grew in spite of the shade.

As the clouds floated by in the sky overhead

The young tree dreamt of being on the move.

The world moved around him years seeming by the hundreds

The young tree grew in spite of the shade.

One day as the sun shone bright

The young tree felt the sun.

As he basked in the light he dreamt of rootlessness

He shook with desire to move like the clouds.

As his leaves shook and his mind raced

Something strange happened; his roots removed themselves from the earth.

The still young tree began to travel with no roots.

Everywhere that he would go he would plant himself and become a new tree.

He grew upon Peruvian soil and let the llamas eat his fruit.

He traveled as a tiny tree in a pot across the sea as a sailor watered him and shared his soul.

The young tree grew in the red earth of Africa as a Baobab

Lions sharpened there claws upon his bark and at nights the birds used him for rest.

Everywhere that he traveled he became something new

Still he remembered the clouds over head and the dreams dreamt in the shade.

Though he traveled and shaped he never forgot how hard he fought to travel

He grew and moved with no roots in spite of the shade.