Rhododendron

We’ve been tracing your life as the ivy grows

Skipping stones with the river’s flow

Each day so precious, we try to stay present

Laying you down in the evening glow

The stars aligned with a gasp, then a cry

A son was born when the moon went to die

But yet we’re surprised, when we look to the sky,

and the day brings a light to your eyes

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Little ol’ you

Big big change

Little ol’ you

Oh, isn’t it strange?

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Couldn’t see the forest for the trees

Couldn’t hear the ocean for the breeze

You taught us so much, with your delicate touch

When the ground began to freeze

It’s so sweet to remember

That harsh morning in December

When you came alive in the hills, we forgot about the chill,

You set us ablaze with your ember

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Little ol’ you

Big big change

Little ol’ you

Oh, isn’t it strange?

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Note:

I wrote this song after a drive from Portland to Rhododendron with a new friend and his daughter so we could escape the city heat. There’s a restaurant in between the two cities on Highway 26 called the Ivy Bear, with a 12 foot wire bear statue covered partially in ivy that has crept up slowly over time. The friend spoke the first line of this poem to his daughter and I told him I would be stealing it from him.