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It is always a nice surprise when someone contacts me after a sermon to share something that connected with them in their own life. The lectionary scriptures for the past few weeks have centered on wisdom, and after I used an illustration about trees “holding their breath”, Bill Rice wrote to me with his own poem, called “Tree”, which I share below with his permission.
Tree
They say
I am dead.
See: bare branches,
Fallen limbs, holes.
I was a sapling once,
Sucking up sun, air, and soil.
Growing strong, proud,
Rising above my peers.
Then I found we,
A grove altogether
Entwined each with the other
And with the Other
2-, 4-, 6-legged and more.
Nesting birds and squirrels,
Bugs that tickle
And birds that peck for them.
We breathe life into the world,
Feed and house,
And rot to nourish all,
All unknowing.
They say
I am dead.
Yes, the I died,
So we thrive.
In Bill’s poem, I can hear the wisdom of someone who is a student of both nature and of God. As the leaves turn and the seasons change around us, what do you see, what do you hear? What can you let go of, and what can you embrace? Where do you find wisdom?
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