The Beggar and The Tree

Everyday when I pass this place by
I see a lone beggar lie
Underneath the lone tree
He has no bonds, he is free
His hand outstretched in front
Tells me the lesson he learnt
His clothes are tattered
His face is battered
Full of hope - and sadness
Enveloping him to madness
He waits for food - and hope
For the latter I see no scope
And when I came with food
I all alone there stood
But, the lone tree was there
I hadn't seen it with care
When my eyes fell on the beggar
My legs started to stagger
For he had gone to sleep
I had no time to weep
Neither to brood
I all alone there stood
The tree, it was but dried wood
That was all left of it
Bit by bit
It had finally become free
That distant lonely tree.

Yes, another one in continuation of the earlier Miracles. Was wondering where these two had gotten lost (yup, another two A4 size typed sheets!). This one was 'inspired', of all things, by a painting at the back of a Reader's Digest magazine. In those days RD used to have paintings or pictures on the back cover. A couple of years ago, with change of management I believe, RD changed that to the ever too too common advertisement/s on its covers. Thus losing one of the distinguishing features of the mag. My Dad had been an RD subscriber from the early 70s onwards - from even before I was born! And I loved the magazine, during my teens as well as later years. Back home during summer holidays was the time to sit with the whole year's stack and read through them. Haven't bothered to go through one for more than a year now, the change in magazine format was very disappointing. However, the management decided to stick to the new one with new features and advertisements galore every few pages, sadly reducing the Reader's Digest from being a highly readable 'book' to a one-of-many-out-there 'magazine'.