by Ian McAllister of Pacific Wild
If ever you would speak with any tree,
come walking in the forest here with me.
I'll show you the wild mushroom and the root,
but where the ancients gather, set no boot.
If you would speak with nature spirits wild,
you must maintain the heartbeat of a child,
learn riversong and mountain chasm deep.
You must commune with angels in your sleep.
As you step lightly on the pungent moss,
and feel the leaves the winter wind doth toss,
let your spirit fly away among the trees.
It will return upon the morrow's breeze.
I go into the forest dark and deep,
every night after I fall asleep,
become a woodland guardian, reborn
I do not want to leave when it is morn.
Last night my spirit fought as a black wolf,
against four brown wolves on the forest floor,
This told me that a battle lies before,
my spirit having recognized its door.
Come with me. I will show you secret groves,
moss-hung and ancient in this stand of pine.
Deep in the bracken, where the hoarfrost glows,
the Old Ones are singing Home this heart of mine.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI like this requirement to speak to trees: "You must commune with angels in your sleep."
ReplyDeleteThe last stanza is so very alluring. It makes me yearn for my woods...
ReplyDeletethis is an invitation hard to resist, a walk into a magical realm, one where the heart is healed deeply. reads like a prayer Sherry
ReplyDeleteHi Sherry!
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading both of your poems sbout trees! Bravo Sherry, thry are bith powerful, and such important statements. I boil over when I think of what we are doing to these amazing natural “partners” we have in life. Our long term survival as a species is intimately dependent on these amazing living miracles. We must learn or we will perish. I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but I have pasted a link to a concrete poem I originally wrote years ago about human ignorance regarding trees. I wanted to share it with you Sherry. If you don’t want it in my comment here, please omit it. Thank you Sherry! :-)
http://www.image-verse.com/final-sentinel
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful ode to nature specially the last stanza:
ReplyDeleteCome with me. I will show you secret groves,
moss-hung and ancient in this stand of pine.
Deep in the bracken, where the hoarfrost glows,
the Old Ones are singing Home this heart of mine.
I wonder though if the form is a pantoum as the lines 2 and 4 are not repeated in the succeeding stanzas. In any case, love the theme and a call of the spirit.
A truly wonderful poem, and most enticing.
ReplyDeleteSherry,I love your poem no matter the form. I would love to walk with you and speak to trees. I am sure it would be an interesting conversation.
ReplyDelete