Sunday, April 21, 2013

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

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

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
 


 
 


Tuesday, April 9, 2013

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




Friday, April 5, 2013

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