(This Life) Part 7: Resilience

Gold cherry
Poem of the week

By bhi

Mon, 13 Jun 2022
  • 1703 reads
10 comments
 

 

The sudden storm shatters the fencing,

Howling leaves the garden ravaged,

The revenant Mimosa uprooted -

Pixels, re-formed from frosted roots,

Fed seven saplings replacing the one -

Heard Jim shout, “Your tree’s coming down”;

With stilled heart watched its rending fall

 

In that singular moment its leaves

Curve through time - spent and un,

Airless, unlit noumenons -

Draw me into their unbeing

And I witness the startling

Resurrections of beasts and plants,

The crossings from IS to WAS to IS,

Exhausted hymns of the apple tree,

Once perfect seeds imperfected

Beneath the onslaught of each day,

Frames bent, memories dust decayed –

Fall all must, flesh, supple once, rust,

Waiting for that day when breathless,

Boxed we commingle with the dust -

Yet within these trembling leaves I sense

an unquenchable desire to be,

be linked to life’s singularity.

 

I cut level with the Earth, trim,

Daily water, feed fish and blood,  

And, moons passing, amazed I watch

As springs another stem, greener,

Elastic rising past the dead skin of its past,

A miracle of resilience.

Certificate 15
Poem

Comments

Submitted by onemorething on

Love this, bhi. This wonderful poem is our Pick of the Day. Do share on social media. 
 

Have added Edvard Munch's The Apple Tree, hope that's ok. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edvard_Munch_-_The_Apple_Tree_(1921).jpg)

 

Submitted by bhi on

Thanks OMT for the PIck and for adding the wonderful picture.

The poem reflects my journey this year as well; my frail scaffolding is still just about managing to keep me upright! But this tree has stunned me by its will to live, despite the frost and the storms. A lesson to me, definitely, and the inclination to write has flowered once again.

Thanks so much.

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

I was so taken with this piece I have gone back and read the rest of them (again). Thank you so much for posting, and congratulations on the golden cherries. Brilliant picture too - a perfect pairing!

 

Submitted by bhi on

The picture I owe to the genius of OMT! But thank you for reading and commenting. I will post the new growth of the Mimosa to this forum; it is incredible, the desire to be itself.

 

 

Submitted by Ed Crane on

It reminded me that, even with of the terrible things taking place in Ukraine when we see the latest pictures of the devastation caused by the Devil in the Kremlin, the bright green leaves of trees and shooting grass within the rubble the cycle of nature cannot be tamed.

 

 

Submitted by bhi on

Ed, thank you for reading and the perceptive link to what is happening in the Ukraine. I did have that in mind when I was writing this and the resilience of the people there in defending their right to be, despite the overwhelming odds they're facing. 

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

I remember you writing of your mimosa before, pouring warm water on it as encouragement. and it worked, and now another trial by weather. "Elastic" is the perfect word, Life stretched to the limit, but coming back.

As Insert said, I read back to your other poems in this series, all are so very gorgeous, but this one, particularly now, for me was helpful. As someone has sprayed our garden and almost half I'm not sure will come back, is all just shrivelled brown and rotting where before was lush and peaceful. I do not want to go in. So, thankyou for reminding me there is always hope, with nature :0)

And I'm so very glad your words are unfurling again!

 

Submitted by bhi on

Hello Di. Sorry to hear about your garden; but as this mimosa of mine is proving, renewal is possible. I have 2 of these trees, and one is sheltered by the side of a garden office, but this one is next to the house and bears the brunt of the weather. When I trimmed back the trunks I pushed what was left of the root system into the earth and padded it with rocks - to protect it from my 2 dogs - and hoped, and continuing to hope that it keeps its renewal going!

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

This is our Poem of the Week - congratulations! 

Submitted by marandina on

You have such a strong connection to nature which features in a lot of your work. Beautifully observed and reverential. A celebration. Congratulations on the well deserved accolades. Paul