Living Tree Poetry

Lie down and cease moving.
Look up, and see how you needn’t try
to be part of the stream of consciousness,
the river of life.

And take yourself out of yourself
to your mat under the great bowl of sky
when evening or sunrise arrives.
See the great dance needing no permission
for continuing.

How the scudding clouds, sunlit,
are breaking up the blue,
and the leaves in the tall trees are whispering,
the birds circling on the head winds.

Close your eyes and settle your limbs
like the trees pointing up to the sky
with their roots sinking,
and know that everything
is carrying on without you.

And far from feeling lonely,
let that cause the heart to move in tune
with the world’s turning.

Feel yourself as a leaf
surrendering to the elements,
or a creature in constant motion
as much as at rest.

All by hardly trying,
but by finding that still quiet
centre for your own living
at home in the whirling winds.

Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
March 2021