Living Tree Poetry

Follow your heart
it tends to leave prints wherever it goes,
as bare feet on frosty grass.

Trace back
to where impressions were made,
like etchings on woods, or signs at cross roads.

Feel for the indents,
and then see which direction they point.
Eyes shut, let your heart take the lead.

Take the prayers you have not yet uttered.
Give them voice
and see the frames they make.

As houses yet to be lived in,
see how the words start to give them shape and substance,
walls and roof.

Like a garden,
see what recurring thoughts take root each season,
stay and grow, dispersing seed in the wind.

Listen to your heart
it tends to stay
where it feels a need, or a welcome,

and then it calls you back,
echoing on the airwaves.
Naming your longings, with your own voice.

Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
January 2019