His and hers

He falls apart differently than me.

When I’m dropped by the world at large,
or the effects of my undoing,
I fall deep into the earth’s core.

Bottomless as much as it is endless.
I reach my destination of damp darkness in my cavernous chest.
Hovering to numbness until I catch that glimmer of light high above me.
My feet eventually dangle their way back below me to standing.
And then, I begin my focused ascent.

For him, his fall is sudden.
His story, by all stated accounts and recollections is this.
He awakens from the scene face down on the earth’s floor.
His bows broken, bark tossed and leaves scattered all about.

He awaits without effort to the imminent comfort of a breeze of a kind stranger,
to gather his branches and ground him back to his roots.

Shallow in depth.
Broad in reach.
I’m amazed how fast his leavesappear to grow back.

Apart but one