Communing with Trees (2nd step for Shedding Light)

Sneakers have to be just right

Not too loose, not too tight,

Pedometer snugly on my hip,

Jacket and scarf for the long trip

 

Out I go, past the mailbox and laundry,

Past the playground and complex boundary,

Once on the sidewalk, with the cars whizzing by

I find myself smiling, not even sure why

 

Past the grocery and gas station, avoiding the traffic

I scurry across and get away from the racket

Up the steep road into back streets and then -

There it is!  The oak tree, to commune once again

 

This old tree reaches stout branches up, up and up

And I lay my back firmly against its gnarled trunk

If I focus I see through the tree’s own eyes

Over rooftops and trees, to the mountains and skies

 

When the tree has informed me in her own language

I thank her and continue on down without anguish

I turn on the road and pass the house with the deer

It’s a fake one but it looks out at me with fake cheer

 

Then at last is the entrance to the pathway I crave

The trail which was once a railroad, now paved

But on either side of the path are more trees

More wise ones to talk with and hear their soft leaves

 

After some way, I stop to sit on a bench

There are insects and sparrows and even a finch

A butterfly colored in blue and dark black

Whizzes by as I get up and get back on track

 

At the end of my trail is a pond that in summer

Has two swans and ducks that are seen by all comers

But in winter, the pond's under blankets of ice

And to watch from the bank is still very nice

 

Returning the same way I came is my way

And I hope when I’m older I can do this each day

For now it’s a luxury only on weekends

But it helps me connect with the trees, my dear friends.

 

***

Here is a link to a video I posted to Youtube last July where I communed with this same tree:  http://youtu.be/SXo9DKitNyc.