Living Tree Poetry

Over there is blue
soft as a duck’s shell, wide as the sky,
within which hangs the moon still,
a reminder of her night light.

And to the right,
the sun warm on the cheek,
lids of eyes, and my chest rising, falling
with the breath of life.

And behind, I know
are two shades of dahlia,
the agapanthus all reaching forward at their necks,
holding their graceful heads.

And the pansies with their never-ending
colourful appearances,
to remind us how it’s the smallest things
which harbour the most endurance.

And at the road’s end is the river,
perceived in the vision,
her body of water as the weight of a stretched limb,
anchored beside mine.

That I can sit here alone but for the birds,
diving and dipping
between all the elements essential for being,
mine and theirs.

And feel across the hills, the seas,
the presence of everyone else,
quietly living in their dwellings,
conscious of the width of love.

In this same moon and sun,
stars and sea,
the flowers ever appearing, blooming,
the songs of birds.

The blue, green world, all of it ever turning,
but so softly,
still as the breeze now stirs the leaves,
moving my hair.

Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
January 2021

‘If the silence takes you,
then I hope it takes me too’.
~ Mila Light

‘We’re here for a minute.
We’re here for a little window.
And to use that time to catch
shards of light,
and laughter and grace
seems to me the great story.’
~ Brian Doyle

‘Wonder leads us into a vast stillness where in awe,
we breathe afresh the breath of God.’
~ Bob Holmes