Living Tree Poetry

Have you ever heard a word or two
and thought, ‘I knew that too?’

Somewhere within….

Did you ever want to articulate
each word of knowledge spoken,

the wisest nuggets ever shared,

the things to which you’ve resonated
with ‘me too’,

like a little ‘ah’ of certainty,
of kindred-ship.

Have you thought

if you did not
hold them tightly to your breast,

these winged beasts of the air,
they might fly off,

so inconsistent they are
in their coming and goings.

And then you might have missed
just from lack of attentiveness,

the very thing most imperative.

The one thing to connect all the others,
and close the gaps of knowledge.

While perhaps the only thing
we must recall,

is that the whole,

where-ever which way we stand,
is ever only part established

in our vision,
and our hearing.

But the fullness of it all

keeps coming round,
turning like a change of perspective,

while all we need do
is be present at the still-point

standing as a lure to draw
the birds.

Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
March 2020

“Don’t simply brush away the inexplicable connectedness we’ll occasionally taste as we experience certain people, places and works of art. These mere seconds of quiet synchronicity and understanding count” – Victoria Erickson

“If there is any wisdom running through my life now, in my walking on this earth, it came from listening in the Great Silence to the stones, trees, space, the wild animals, to the pulse of all life as my heartbeat.” – Vijali Hamilton

Wherever it was
I was supposed to be this morning– whatever it was I said
I would be doing–
I was standing
at the edge of the field– I was hurrying
through my own soul, opening its dark doors– I was leaning out;
I was listening.
– Mary Oliver, Mockingbirds