Tree Thoughts

If I were a tree, With the dry ground under me, Unmovable, unswayable, Wild, bound, but free: If I were a tree, With a clear view of the sea, Unquenchable, inflexible, The silent guardian I, Bending with the salty wind O’er the ocean sky And sparring with each chilling breeze, That winds throughout the quay Rustling my colored leaves And whisking them away; What would I say when winter’s day Finds me dry and friendless? How would I wear away the time, In winter’s chill so endless? A brilliant white is all I see, Of rocks and grass once under me. No creatures find a shelter then In my somber skeleton. Now my post is strictly mine— And who will wish to claim it? All I see I own, but yet, My roots cannot sustain it. Buried in the hardened earth, My sinews, dry and useless Have been a crutch for only me While every plant I used to see Has perished silently beneath The merciless and endless snow. If I were a tree, The winter snowing fitfully— Unstoppable, unmerciful, Sternly, fiercely free— Would bend and break me, Tear and take me, Till a stump remained. And then, the tree that once was me, Would be my lasting grave. No—not a tree for those Who have but life to gain. Unchangeable, unswayable, And bursting into green, A ransomed life is limitless— Wild, bound, but free.