Heart of Oak

Madalynn Sedgwick is an undergraduate majoring in English and minoring in Creative Writing. She is the President of the Creative Writing Club and was accepted into Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society, in the fall of 2024. Madalynn is also a veteran, serving six years in the U.S. Army.

You are my tree.

A strong oak, or perhaps, a sweet maple.

Or why not a strange hybrid of both?

Always standing tall in a cloud of storms,

Only swaying lightly to the howling wind.

No matter what kind of tree you are,

You are still braving what the world throws at us.

Perhaps you’re the 274-year-old White Oak in our yard

Having to live through 27 decades of storms,

And generations of birds, squirrels, and raccoons.

You opened your branches to me,

And have never let me go since.

Not once have I gone without a breath of air,

Without a shield from the harsh world,

Without a guide out from my own mind.

You are my shade on a hot summer day.

My beacon on a foggy morning.

My shield during a windy afternoon.

My protector on a stormy night.

You are my tree.