She was just a girl
About five, maybe six
She had not yet learned
About life and it's cruel tricks
Sometimes she played outside
With her best friend under a tree
And the cool spring air
Made them feel like they were free
On her ninth birthday
Her friend came to her house
And they played, running around the tree
Like a cat and a mouse
But then middle school came
After she had turned eleven
And with her schoolwork and new friends
She rarely saw her tree-filled heaven
Though she visited from time to time,
It wasn't quite as fun
And she barely spoke to her old friend
With whom she used to run
On the year she turned fourteen
And started at a brand new school
Playing outside had long since been
Considered way uncool
And she wrote her friend sometimes
But they had grown apart
And she learned to live with it
Even though it broke her heart
The tree was getting old
And all at once, so was she
She didn't have much time
For a silly little tree
And she graduated high school
And she moved far, far away
And she heard not of her friend again
Until one fateful day
With shaking hands she took the call
And she heard the sorry voice
And the tears streamed down her face
Because it had been his choice
And when she arrived back home
In a dress the deepest black
She realized her childhood
Was something she'd never get back
And as she drove to his old house
To pay her overdue respects
She passed the place where they had used to play
When life had been perfect
She parked her brand new car
Beside the beaten down speed bump
But in place of her old tree
Was a tired, lonely stump
