I could be a tree. What would be in it for me? I could rest all winter long, awakening to bird song. Spring brings renewal, fresh and awake I could have a nice spot, maybe near a lake As I get a bit taller and the world a little smaller My universe less focused on every creepy crawler Energy flows into my leaves until those summer nights Birds begin preparing for those long autumn flights Then I drop them all, all like a burden so much happening, no need to get a word in And yet they weren't a burden at all. As I tried on so many colors all through the Fall. There is no waste, no shame, no worry I have no where to go, to be in any hurry. Eventually I die and no one knows I was there wouldn't it be nice to be free of such care. ~Graf, 2021
A Tree’s Tipping Point
This week we had to have one of our trees cut down. It was a rather large maple that became infected with Verticillium Wilt and experienced a very rapid decline over the summer. We've been in varying degrees of drought in Michigan all summer and it is persisting to...
Wonderfully done my friend, both the image and the poem. There is always something special when a poem appears or an image appears or moment of delight appears or all the above. I like this and would like to read more from the poet within Mark. I’ve read where poets are asking questions, which is what you have done.
well, it was quite a serendipitous thing Monte. Maybe it was the dram of scotch I had close by. My alignment with poetry is closer to the Dr. Seuss variety than anything more serious, in contrast to my mother who is quite an accomplished poet.
Edit 13Jun21: tweaked a bit from the originally published version
Quite a lovely poem. Did you write it?
could use some work but yes. was starting to write about trees and sort of just went in this direction on a whim.
The poem conveys a deep sense of connection with the natural world but doesn’t take itself too seriously – it’s really lovely. The photo, with all its’ layers, is a beauty. What a pleasure!
Thanks Lynn. the photo is a multi exposure experiment – just like the text I suppose LOL!
Last night I watched a story on PBS’ Nova about a sunken ship from the Scandinavian Middle Ages and the archeologists were dissecting the wood and the carpentry and all the while I was thinking, “I guess that could be Mark Graf in his life as a tree.” 🙂
You know, that is a risk and drama aspect I should have worked into this!