poem: “Tree of Life”

“WITHIN my heart, I found a secret bower…”

“WITHIN my heart, I found a secret bower,
there a garden, there a secret flower
I tended to her, for she was my delight
and she grew in stature through the day and night
daily I returned and brought fresh water
to the morning’s tender rose-cheeked daughter 

then the ancient gods sent rain in blinding sheets
and peals of thunder from their highborn seats
and tempest winds dispatched to rage and blow
and deck the frozen land with drifts of snow
against the meeker powers to battle
cold of death, that makes my chest to rattle
my blood to freeze, my teeth to chatter—
though old gods rage, yet little do they matter

for lo! a sapling has become my flower
more comely growing with each passing hour 
a bud she holds in every outstretched hand 
and feathered pilgrims fly across the land
among her comely leaves, a perch to find
with ne’er a care for haunts they left behind

and lo! new blossoms every bough upon
unsealed afresh by rosy-fingered dawn
and to behold her marvels, I rejoiced
with prayers and praises, to her raised my voice
and intoned a ballad for her, true and fair

and lo! her laden boughs brought forth a pair
of apples, backlit by the autumn Sun 
and many more of them were still to come
and so the days that passed for us were blessed
and other songs must surely tell the rest

but suffice it here, this much to say
she is the Tree of Life, Life is a Tree
moreover, I am her and she is me
and when once her branches reached the vaulted sky
now they unfold through all eternity 
new lovers, ballads pen upon her pages
so she lives on and passes through all ages.”