When the Tree Speaks

What strong roots you have!

To be grounded in thought and

Unwavering in your confidence is a feat I yearn for.

Yet you stretch your branches open wide

To embrace the wind, the animals and life.

And what thick branches you have!

Strong and brittle. From a distance you seem

Impenetrable but I know that one heavy hand or

Premeditated saw will break you with ease.

I wonder why you refuse to stay down.

Why you are so set on helping those

Who do you wrong.

So obstinately kind.

The land was yours

Before it was mine.

And maybe that's where the trouble lies.

This mine and yours, yours and mine.

Why can't land be ours to share?

To have and to hold, to tender and to care?

The lessons you tell in your silence of what it looks like

To live in matrimony with the earth

I will keep hidden in my heart.

You provide shelter for your enemy and for your friend -

Your arms branching out to drop golden fruits of

Sustenance for all creatures below. I could learn a

Thing or two from you, Tree:

You are no respecter of persons.

You do not worry what tomorrow will bring

But instead you stay assured that tomorrow

Is in His hands.

I could learn a thing or two from you, Tree.

I could learn, simply, how to be.

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Stay strong like the Tree and rooted in truth.

Isaiah 55:12 (NIV) "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."