Thursday, September 27, 2012

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

Thursday, September 13, 2012

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

Saturday, September 8, 2012

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.

Monday, September 3, 2012

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


 
 
 


Saturday, September 1, 2012

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