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

Trees...your baubles...

Trees

your baubles

strewn across your velvet

are many

you wear them well

jay blue







and cardinal red

finch gold

bunting indigo

raven ebony

the pearl

of an eagle's crown

cling to fingers

and wrists

scatter across

sky and earth

along branch and twig

rhinestones

restless crystals

living gems

hungry for light

as you are

dip dive

soar sparkle

and sometimes

even sing


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

Trees...you are patient as saints...

Trees



you are patient

as saints

perseverant

valiant

beneath your burdens

of snow

bending at the wind's will

and other times

still straight

and inscrutable

as a thought

that never found voice

never saw the light of day

but you

who have seen many days

and much light

many nights stars moons

 

that shone on ancient deeds

and things

no longer remembered

bore it all

locked it away in rings

that multiplied each year

how many springs

unto old age

long you wait

and persevere

and with what

quick stroke

will you end

in what dim light

be borne

beneath

the very snows

you carried

uncomplaining

in your laden arms

etchings

against a winter sky


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

Trees...he is a speck

Trees

 

 

he is a speck

moving across

your white sea

a shape

 

shifting

stopping

to reconnoiter

before moving on

to the next spot

where fish might

be waiting

hours pass

during which I wonder

does he ponder

his current state

and the fact that

if not for the ice

he wouldn't be

there

at all

or does he look at you

around him

what can you

be thinking

ringing the pond

that way

bare bones

against

an equally bare sky

where the sun

does not lie

but shows all

he leaves once

goes ashore

then returns to sit

and waits

and waits

one jot

on a bare canvas

one man

alone

with that sky

with that stillness

then he is gone

no trace of him

from this distance

other than

a tiny memory

shadow

there

on a white

waveless sea

and

that stillness

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

 

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

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

　

　

　

　

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






















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

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.

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