Friday, October 11, 2019

Sister Tree

On the Tall Tree Trail, Meares Island
Such beautiful old beings live there.


Sister Tree, 
breathe me your peace.
When you breathe out, I breathe in.
We are connected.
The genetic code, 
in trees and humans,
is the same.
In Woman, 
the design of membranes 
in the placenta, 
nurturer of human life,
is the same as 
the Tree of Life. 

This fills me with awe.

How can we be so busy, 
so distracted, 
so disconnected,
so claimed by the worldly,
that we forget
we come from starlight? 
How is it we busy ourselves 
with technology
and forget it is 
our bare feet on the ground,
our eyes raised to the sky,
the image of sunset 
imprinted on our soul
that gives life meaning?

I turn off the tv, 
the computer, the phone.
I turn on birdsong, daybreak, 
Cloud Art
and stardreaming.

I place my hand upon your trunk.
My Sister.
In this moment,
it is only you and I,
breathing.



One from 2014, to be shared with the Poetry Pantry at Poets United. Come join us, poetry friends! 

21 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed how you described the connections, but it seems many have ignored or negated them in recent times. We have been too busy to contemplate what is REALLY important, the connections that really matter.

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  2. Oh, that's wonderful! And a good reminder, thank you. I especially love the last verse. And the title.

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  3. I love what this poem says about universal connection, about how our actions affect everything around us. Together, we breathe.

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  4. What a wonderful poem - i could really feel the connection you have to Mother Earth and sister tree.

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  5. Indeed -- How COULD we "forget /we come from starlight?" Brian Swimme once wrote a book titled "The Universe is a Green Dragon," and humanity is the eye created to behold itself. If only we would stop staring at those babbling blank screens ... Love the affinity here which goes beyond rootstock into genetic code -- humans and trees are more alike than not -- and the majesty of two figures side by side, tree and singing sister. Amen to our natural weird sisters! I have mine too!

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  6. And, as silent sirens, they sing us to sleep...

    Great write, Sherry!

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  7. Your love for nature is undeniable. I love this tribute .

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  8. Yes, the world is the wide web and trees keep it all together. I love to imagine their roots as big as their top branches.

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  9. I love the Oneness with which this poem concludes!

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  10. Sherry, I feel your poems should placed in parks so that when we walk in them, we can remember why we've come. Or, perhaps, be reminded of how we can be in them. This is beautiful!

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  11. This is incredibly moving, Sherry!❤️ I especially like; "How is it we busy ourselves with technology and forget it is our bare feet on the ground,our eyes raised to the sky,the image of sunset imprinted on our soul that gives life meaning?"❤️

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  12. A beautiful and eloquent articulation of that which is almost (but as you have shown here ~ not quite ~ ) beyond words. This is glorious, Sherry!

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  13. It's good to be reminded that we're all connected in nature.

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  14. It saddens me that so many are blind to the need to love all other living things on Earth as we are meant to balance out and ensure we all live on. But no our current thinking to to harvest everything that can make a few bucks and all will be well disregarding the effect on the future and the likely doom for our children's children.

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  15. I spent the day up in the mountains walking amidst the autumn trees. Yes, breathing as one with nature. We are indeed connected. A beautiful reminder to get outside and connect with the earth.

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  16. That photo is amazing as is "I turn on birdsong, daybreak,
    Cloud Art
    and stardreaming."

    I like that you wove your blog's name in there.

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  17. I turn on birdsong, daybreak,
    Cloud Art
    and stardreaming.... that's just beautiful..the way it should be.

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  18. yes, to be one with nature, to sense its might and feel its compassion.
    i agree with Chrissa, your poems should be placed in parks, so the future generations should understand why there must be trees and flowers and birds and other forest creatures.

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  19. this filled me with awe and reverence Sherry. Lovely.

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  20. Do you know the song "Breathing" by Kate Bush. It begins "Outside / Gets inside / Through her skin /
    I've been out before / But this time it's much safer in" I kept hearing the song in my head as I was reading, as you breath out, I breath in, and like mother earth does for the trees, mothers do for the baby in the womb. Giving life simply by breathing.

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  21. It is a conundrum. The magic is all around and within us...so commonplace we forget to see it, to know it is there...to know we are here. When trees breathe out, we breathe in - I love this moment in your poem. Beginning in this way, your whole poem becomes a breath we take together.

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