There she laid down her wearied head
To rest one final time under the shade
‘O the wiry willow

Beneath, her thoughts spun webs of distant times past
Where honeysuckle wrapped tendrils round
The rugged walnut

Smells of various mountain flowers after a fresh rain
Accompanied the familiar tune of birds singing
An ode to the swaying oaks  

A soft breeze warmed the chill of biting winters cold
Sending shivers down her frail frame
Skeletal like the barren birch

She blinked in time to barking angry squirrels
Displeased with the lack of fruit
Left by the poor pawpaw  

Vision, already blurred by cataract, began to fade
As the mountain consumed the setting sun
The light filtered by forlorn firs

It was time.  

Long had she waited to join those that had gone before
Patient to be reunited with her love long lost
During the spring of blooming dogwood

Distant, she could see him, strong and proud
With effort she reached out to her beloved
A mighty hickory  

Exhaling, she breathed her last.

After her life, Diana, goddess of the forest
Let grow a grove of various mountain trees
Surrounding a single rhododendron  

Her life, a monument to the nature she loved.