The climber

Jack and the Like Tree (a fairy story)

Part two:

The Climber

There was once a gigantic tree

Its top so high and never seen

Its branches hanging with strange fruit

Its leaves all shades of evergreen

And on its trunk there clung a boy

Ten thousand feet above the ground

So slowly, branch by branch he climbed

With hook and harness upward bound

On each branch was a clustering

Of blue fruit of the strangest shape

A clenched fist with a risen thumb

The size and texture of a grape

Of luscious and exquisite taste

There lay a secret in its store

Who tasted it became a slave

And once picked, it would grow no more

The giant tree at first appeared

A year before this tale is told

And jack (the climber) ate its fruit

Before it was but one day old

Thereafter every day he came

To pick and eat without a care

And by the time a month had passed

The lowest branches he’d stripped bare

And very soon the higher fruit

Reached by a ladder disappeared

And higher still by scaffold Tower

Too soon each branch was picked and cleared

Till finally there came the day

When all that he could do was done

Jack climbed down from the tower resigned:

All accessible fruit was gone

A year went by, the seasons passed

Jack looked for signs upon the tree

But all that grew was his despair

No buds or blossom could he see

Hence presently this tale returns

To Jack - the climber- on a quest

To find the fruit to fill the void

And desolation in his breast

His senses craved the like tree fruit

His ego ever wanting more

His self - importance drove him on

All other things did he ignore

Deluded by his selfish lust

He climbed from branch to branch to find

The fruit that calmed and satisfied

The yearnings of his tortured mind

Jack then two months upon the tree

With only one thing on his mind

Onwards and upwards there he climbed

All branches, stripped bare, left behind

The fruit that gave him sustenance

And satisfied his every need

It’s fleeting gifts of power and joy

Remained the focus of his greed

Jack then three months upon the tree

His clothes were ripped, his skin was rank

His teeth unclean, his hair unkempt

His hands were cracked, his face was blank

And ever upwards still he climbed

With feelings of despair and grief

The Like fruit clusters still not picked

The only source of his relief

Jack then SIX months upon the tree!

His body wrecked his spirit drowned

For nigh a barren week had passed

And no fruit clusters had he found

Jack, exhausted and diminished

Yet still continued to ascend

With pull and grip, he carried on

Upwards towards his journey’s end

Then seven months had come and gone

And Jack, unconscious, climbed no more

That night he reached the highest branch

And saw there at the end a door

And there he lay in dreamless sleep

Aware not of what fate had planned

Or that the doorway there began

The path that led to Facebook land!

End part the second