We go through life poking and prodding out our bodies, expecting so much out of them, often giving little in return.

This poem, by Melbourne poet John Engleszos, resonates with me. I feel it is a poem about acceptance. It serves as a gentle nudging to remember our place in the fabric of life and to recognise how our life's journey shapes us and makes us stronger.

I hope you enjoy this too.

THE TREE SPEAKS by John Englezos

Oh Human,
once I was as young as you.
Thin and uncertain and dwarfed in a landscape far larger than I.

And it was terrifying.

Every rustle was eery,
every snap was violent,
the lightest breeze would make me trouble and tremble.

But now, I am older and wiser.
Sun and storm I have seen,
Fire and flood I have worn,
yet here I stand.

And you would think that by my age
my skin would stop shedding.
It has not.

And you would also think I could not grow anything new.
Yet I do.

Young Human,
do you think yourself that much different from me?
We all twist and climb towards the light.
Grasping and stretching skyward.
But you cannot just grow higher, you must grow deeper.

And it’s true,
along the way we are pruned and snapped and whittled away at.

We all grow aged
and weary
and worn down.
Yet, here we stand.

Dear Human,
why then do your spots and lines shame you so?
There are valleys on me hewn out across years, just like yours.
The troughs where heavens tears have wept are etched up and down my entire frame.

Look at me.

You ought not regret your wrinkles.
They are as much a part of you as your breath.

My legs are crooked and sunken in, my arms are heavy and bent.
Yet here I stand.
Quietly resilient.

I am here, at peace with God and with gardener.

For whatever you weather,
whether clothed in colour or naked and bare
after the flames have burned and burned out,
and the waters have thrashed and died down,
you will stand.

And when it comes time for me to fall,
as all great trees must,
you will see the years in my spine,
the orbiting of the seasons within me.
And it is within all those seasons,
you are remembered.

Sweet Human,
you are not as hollow as you feel.
And this night is not as dark as some may say.
I know the deep spaces you try to hide from view.
The hollow ache in your spine as if the cold could blow right through you.

But wait,
Wait and see.
When you awaken,
you will find the birds have made their dwelling within you
And the hollow places will be transformed
into chambers of music as they sing in the morning.
May their chorus echo through your entire being.

Little Human,
To where do you hurry?
Stop, even for a moment.
Cease your storming.

Peace, be still.

Sit at the foot of me
Hide in my shade.
Rest and sink in.
Rest until you can stand again,
Better still, climb up here into my arms.
You will breathe out and I will breathe in
and I will breathe out and you will breathe in.
You see, we share the same breath you and I.

I welcome you to bask in this vastness of space.

May you enjoy God’s garden and find your place within it.

https://johnepoetry.wordpress.com/2015/10/31/poetry-the-tree-speaks/