Old Love

The speaker also compares their uncle to “a tree alone at night” (Line 13). This vivid simile suggests that the uncle is solid and strong, like a mature tree, deeply rooted in the love and life he shared with the same woman for 60 years. The loss of that woman, however, shakes him like a storm might shake even the sturdiest tree. His raised hands (Line 2) reach for the sky like tree branches, and his head is shaking (Line 6) as if swaying under the power of an emotional storm. The simile also evokes solitude, prompting the reader to imagine a large tree in the middle of a clearing, no other trees or tall vegetation around him, magnificent but lonesome. The nighttime setting of the image adds to the feeling of isolation. No one is likely to pass by the tree at night, and the sounds are subdued and distant, which makes the lonely tree appear to be in the middle of nothingness. That is the depth of loneliness that the bereaved uncle feels. Another significance of the tree is its role in indigenous beliefs, which Pat Mora references in many poems. Trees symbolize being rooted in the natural surroundings and deriving succor from it, such as healing leaves, sheltering branches, and nutritious bark. The tree imagery in this poem subtly invokes the indigenous worldview that Mora presents more explicitly in other poems, including the idea that we are all deeply connected with everything around us. The uncle’s grief is so profound that for a moment he loses that sense of connection, which is immediately reestablished when he confides in his niece or nephew, the poem’s speaker.