Trees...for weeks now you've waited...

Trees

 

 

 

 

for weeks now

you've waited

buds filled to bursting

redder now as the day's song

grows louder

as light creeps in

between your sepals

tufted gems

opening slowly

imperceptibly

but surely

upon the branch

Maple you are called

whose elixir

fuels spring's passion

sweetens both bread

and air

tempers the shift

before settling once more

in your sapwood

crimson puffs

on dainty twigs

fit for phoebes

and wrens

swaying in a

pond-rippling breeze

warm enough now

for violas and other posies

for your birth on the bough

as that of stars

on moonless nights

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

Trees...you've shaken your great heads...

Trees

you've shaken your great heads

in consternation

all these thousands of years

at the Great Destroyer

the worm

that tunnels through

the soil at your feet

through men's minds

devouring

consuming

leaving behind

a vast blank black space

where goodness

cannot root

cannot thrive

for such things

need the wetness of tears

the warmth of embraces

tease of wind

and the glimmer of stars

to sprout

to grow

to fill the world

with color

to trim the void

making of it the small

insubstantial

immaterial thing

it deserves to be

you've told us

time and again

you've used the wind

to keen in the night

you've quaked and trembled

offered yourselves as

sacrifice as restitution

atonement for wrongs

you yourselves

were never guilty of

could never be

held accountable for

and all you ask

all you ever ask

is one small thing

that we not wonder

if you shed your leaves

 

sooner

 

this year

　

　

 

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

Tree...you are not flesh and blood..

Tree

 

 

you are not flesh and blood

yet you bleed

redeemed by your very presence

and unquestioning nature

while I

eternal doubter

marvel at the single drop

each blossom

sheds for my sins

or are they tears

at my christening

whereby I am cleansed

anew washed clean

because of a promise

written in blood

wine mixed with water

to soften its edge

to ease my culpability

 

or is it both

for one cannot be

without the other

he could not have bled

on you

been torn apart

on you

redeemed me from your height

had he not first

blessed the sea

had you not first

 wept


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



Trees...you are the earth's stole...

Trees

 

you are the earth's stole

draped about her shoulders

as drunk on moonshine

or sun-crazed

she points and pirouettes

through the void

her heart

filled to bursting

 

she wears you well

tucks you in here

demurely

drapes you there

seductively

but always with grace

with good taste

never out of fashion

 

and then

at night

the gilded chariots gone

the blue song stilled

the sea floor cleared

she

pulls you in tight

against the chill

against icy stars

falling about her

catching in you

making of you

her crown

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