For just one fleeting year we shared a home,
our lives briefly intertwined, grafted
together as family. But then that day,
that desperate day, your branch was torn away.

This wrenching moment lingers unresolved;
do you remember me across the years,
the childlike joy and tantrums that we shared?
Where are you now and who have you become?

My hope? Your dislocated branch may have become
a cutting, finding new and fertile soil,
from where today your roots dig deeply and
your mighty boughs stretch out into the blue.

I lodged for a year with a family whose children were later put in care. I often wonder what became of them.
(28.02.26)

© Ben Quant 2026
Photo by olga brajnovic on Unsplash