A giant Red Oak stretches from the rear of our little backyard and hangs over our home like a canopy of protection and wisdom. What are the trees that stick out to you in your yard or neighborhood? Do you know them by name? Have you taken the time to let them speak to you? That may sound corny, but part of my fascination with nature is the way it can make you feel. It’s like good art. It can evoke words, emotions, thoughts and ideas, you didn’t know were there, inside you. In honor of Arbor Day coming up next Friday the 26th, I am posting a little poem I wrote an autumn ago, about the Red Oak of our backyard.
The Golden Oak of What’s Behind and In Front of Me
And there you are great oak
Still here
Amongst the change and upheaval
Going through the seasons again
Dead limbs still searching
Cuts from the world
That thinks it knows better
In a hurry to push you
To some sort of perfection
In full exposure
But your limbs of health
Covered
In golden and beautiful
Radiating the light of its source
And yet falling
To the ground
Covering the floor
With yellows, oranges, and reds
A Spirit from them comes to my eyes
And my look behinds
To the distant darkness
Are bearable
As the dead in me still reaches
But what remains alive
Longs to reflect
The radiance
The beautiful
The glory
The life of it all
Desperate and stoic
Perishing and defiant
Humble and glorious
Oak, you and I
Like virgins, but intersecting
Understand each other
And may I grow tall still
To praise and represent
Like you my friend
the suburban naturalists 