Living Tree Poetry

How to know God?
Stop to breathe,
sink like a stone into the silence,
from which all sound comes.

Then travel and follow,
the voice of the birds,
the waves on the sea,
the brush of branches in the wind.

All activity
arising from its origins in the wellspring,
the storehouse of energy.


And stop, close the eyes,
see how the dark is a comfort,
like the womb
and its near beating heart.

This womb,
which in turn becomes
a passage to the light,
to stun in all its brightness.

And this light, a dance of electrons,
absorbing energy to throw off,
return to their orbit.


So, how to know God?
Gather in the facts,
others still beside,
attempt to understand and see how,

the colours shown are perceived
only by the colour reflected,
the apple green for it being
the shade unabsorbed –

proving there is always more we cannot know,
what we see even, dependent on our vision.


And then sink,
like a stone does without any hearing,
or return like a child in the womb
without knowledge,

or as electrons throwing off light,
and then returning to their orbit,
their cloud surrounding the atom’s central heart.
Yes, how to know,

what can’t be known?
Give in, open your eyes.


Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
November 2020