Trees...you know of such things...

Trees

　

you know of such things

as malice and cruelty

and speak of them daily

amongst yourselves

shaking your heads in dismay

when we think that

it's just the wind slipping

between your boughs

distorting your words

 

you know of the

seedling's struggle

of the odds against it

growing old and wise

such as yourselves

the forces it must overcome

to reach the sun

defy the sword's sharp edge to

become the earth's sentinel

you know about gales

that topple saplings

cold that splits them

lightning that

cuts them to their quick

disease that renders them

no more than empty shells

pushed them to their limits

sometimes too far

sometimes too soon

you know that it is

not always chance

that evil lives in every

breathing thinking thing

and on a mad whim

strikes out blindly

at anything and everything

 

 

tree

bird

deer

child

never noticing

as its shadow passes

that seed

hiding at your feet

among the leaves

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Trees...you have tales to tell...

Trees

you have tales to tell

histories locked in your rings

tight and unreachable

but by the sawyer's cut

when the years spill out

as so much sap

and secrets

years of strife

sadness strivings

uncertain ages

and misgivings

lamentations over losses

celebrations of victories

and ages of uncertainty

locked away

in your layers

of bark safe

until the first glint

of metal on flesh

your innards

show us time

compressed into narrow spaces

thin green skins

that knew sunlight

for only a year

before night fell forever

and we count them

run our fingers across them

and marvel that

you were there

when it all happened

and yet said not a word

but were

resigned waiting

for a hand

that bore a pen

or an axe






















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Trees...I am back...

TREES...

...I am back once more among you.

You, never doubting for one moment

and I, never quite as sure

of ever wending my way again

between your sheltering arms.

Wanderer, I, stopping often

to rest among your kind

never overstaying my welcome

fearing another farewell

unmindful that more of you await me

yet clinging to a grasp

that is never wise of me to ease from.

Now we look together

across a great blue eye

that shines in the moonlight

clings to stars ere day is come,

one of you bent and crippled

yet touching the water

as might a young girl

on a late autumn day,

rippling its surface with her hand.

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Trees...she said once...

Trees

she said once

this woman of no great wisdom

or so I'd always thought

when a young thing

myself who knew everything

and she nothing

that one of you

gray wizened shell

remnant of a greener time

should be left to stand

in contrast to its mates

still young

still new and knowing

that cutting it down

would somehow

spoil the picture

she was right you know

this woman of no schooling

but whose eyes

whose heart

she left me

along with

scribblings in a tattered notebook

again

something from you

years have passed

since we shared that view

that moment

more since she

screamed me

into this world

that cold March day

the day

I left her forever

farewelling me

as I turned toward you

and now

once more

toward her

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Trees....cloud tears...

Trees

                                   

cloud tears

bathe your leaves

and lacking those

leave your skin dark

stained unimpressive

unsuited to

calendar pages

below which time

passes in numbers

unfurling

like acorn sprouts

　

rainy days

are your days of rest

when you are relieved

of trying to impress

of straining against

the dullness of our lives

of trying to outshine

moon sun and stars

of holding us fast

to our dreams

 

your rings

when bared by the axe

reveal our histories

our journeys past you

through you around you

toppling you in our madness

while you

patient and resilient

stand wordlessly by

 watching

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Trees...the sun and I...

Trees

the sun and I

have an agreement

he will wash your leaves

in gold

when I most need

reminding

that you are forever there

forever somewhere

along this journey

and I will

sing his praises

with words

inadequate

considering his gift

and how it

sometimes blinds me

as it did

on a lonely country road

just now

where dark glasses

weren't enough

impossible to take

it all in

the afterglow

gold dust

against a

curtain of hills

and blue sky

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Trees...you shimmer...

Trees

                  you

shimmer in the

landscape

shades of

your former selves

etchings

lost in the tangle

of what lives still

behind you

remembering

long winters

exhanging glances

when snow

built bridges

between you

when spring

sang you

into greenness

your light

lingering past

dusk

                  you

are on fire now

your immolation

brief

your dirge

the keening

I hear

long into

my nights

https://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Lovejoy/e/B00JJ259DS

Trees...you are me...

Trees

                             you are me

and I am you

in so many

senses of the words

that I forget

sometimes

that I am not

like you

bound to a

single spot

resigned

to your entrapment

nor are you

like me

able to flee

from danger

the sound of saws

or of tiny jaws

consuming you

slowly

or toppling you


                        





where we are

most alike

is in our words

stating simply

that blood

sap sunlight

rain

it's all the same

that without them

we die

we cease to blush

as the light

turns from us

we shed

leaves

and bad choices

then wait

till we are

green again

https://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Lovejoy/e/B00JJ259DS

Trees...how often...

Trees

 

 

how often have

I turned to you

as to friends

unquestioning

incapable of

judgment

of ridicule

censure

derision

 apathy

you whose

only fault

is that you speak

so softly at times

that I can't hear

your words of

comfort

or am I the one

who isn't listening

closely enough

mistaking your sighs

for the wind

your tears

for dew

your arms about me

impediments

to my journey

when you

you

are all

I've ever been

sure of

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Trees....what words to use...

Trees


What words to use
to give you substance
on the page,
what amalgam of letters
to best convey your color?

I sit beneath you,
made small
by your untiring presence
and cannot hold a candle
to how you shatter the light
into billions
of gold and fiery bits
that linger but a second
before the sun changes its mind.

And when I leave,
I leave annoyed
that all that come to me
are words like beautiful
and peaceful
when what I want to say
is that I die a little
each time
you wrap
yourselves
around
me.

https://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Lovejoy/e/B00JJ259DS

Trees...I long for you...



Trees

 

I long for you

as for a lost lover

the ache that deep

that persistent

that cloying

I was not there

for your passing

for like a lover's death

I could not have

fathomed yours

could not

have answered the

why

 

I

will live with

the void

where you once were

forever

my mind's eye

places me there

where again

I walk among you

only now

it is among shadows

of what once was

when love lived there

I drift

over your remains

rise like an offering

over your tombs

the forgotten things

 

ferns bracken moss

still trying

so hard

to protect

to comfort

I rise like a bird

high upon a current

gaze down

move my hand

in a slow blessing

across the ruined hillside

offer my caress

my condolence

my hush


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Trees....how do I say...

Trees

how do I say

"I'm sorry"

for abandoning you

to another's aesthetic

another's opinion

of your value

in the grand scheme

how to atone

for making your

mass demise

certain

at his hands

I cherished you

and hoped

I'd passed that on

to one whose

 

assurances

 

seemed as rooted

 

as you were then

but something

 

hovering

 

just below

 

the surface

should have told me

all I needed to know

when I signed

your fates

over to him

him

who thought you all

dispensible

do I seek out

others of your kind

in wilder spots

where the chances

of such a one intruding

are slim

where your kind

would uproot themselves

to wage war

against the

saw

against progress

against others

like him

mea culpa

a billion times over

for as many leaves

as have sustained me

or rustlings that

spoke to me

soothed me

moved me forward

through dark places

and whom I ever

thought

I could

leave

https://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Lovejoy/e/B00JJ259DS

　

Trees...how little we know...

Trees



how little we

know

of what you do

how few

the thanks

we offer you

as we pass

oblivious

to the coolness

in your deeper parts

that costs nothing

but is everything

to those of us

who need the

air you clean

the water

to quench

our children's thirst

to banish winter

bring us through

spring

and summer

to that place

of color

as you ease into

fullness

as green gives way

to crimson

yellow

gold

as your hunger wanes

and you look

toward your

long rest

when your song

will soften

to a whisper

https://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Lovejoy/e/B00JJ259DS

　

Trees...now that the rain...

Trees

                                                                now that the rain

has had its way

with you

and washed you clean

you put the jeweler to shame

with your brilliance

for no emerald

sings the way your leaves sing

no cut glass

splits the light

as do your eyes that have looked

upon us these many years now

stumbling across your roots

where you began

where you continue

for

what need have we

of anything beyond you

you who though old

are ever young

alive in your transpiration

blessing young ones

springing from

the earth at your feet

your legacy

among the grass

that aspires to your

greenness.

https://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Lovejoy/e/B00JJ259DS