Tree Elder

 Tree Elder

I’ve come to sit at your feet again,

my old tree friend, you standing tall and strong.

among hundreds of other trees

around the cemetery’s gravestones.

It is peaceful here, with trees and birds,

bees and butterflies, clouds

rolling in across the sky

covering the sun, whipping up the wind.

I want to connect with your rootedness,

your serene stance and deep experience.

You know your place in the whole.

You have survived tumult and change.

My species is not so vital as you,

not so connected to our living neighbors.

We’ve set ourselves apart, and now

we’re suffering for it, floundering.

We are not a bad species. 

We just got off the healthy track.

And now we sorely need the connectedness

of the forest, of the living world, of your wisdom.

So I come here, to restore myself,

sitting on the ground at your feet,

pulling in your calm and strength,

gratefully carrying it back to my world.