eldered by nature and friend

a follow-up to life=tension

spring is of beginnings, and endings


spring is all about beginnings--
seed to plant,
bud to flower to seed,
the dormant to the active,
inside to outside,
eggs become baby birds,
or sometimes feed a snake,

and yet just two days ago,
the winds of Wednesday,
broke over my last cherry tree from my planting 3 decades ago,
it’s had its run and now it’s laying down its burdens,
its small green cherries might still connect well enough
to root and sun to ripen into fruit--
to seek a new beginning,
though I might then cut off that possibility
and have them reprise their role so many times before
as jam or a pie to commemorate how
Earth & I can celebrate the way we can come together,

the cherry tree, bent to the horizontal,
still green with promise of some more days to come
in which fulfillment is of these moments
and not of a future when it,
in this form,
will reawaken for a new year of hopeful growth,

I recently wrote of life as
agenda, tension, acting upon a list that needs doing,
and a friend eldered me
as to how full and right the days can be
as we lay down our burdens
and day by day appreciate each moment by moment,
then we can remember and honor the past,
hope for a future that soars without us,
and our labor can be to savor each moment still granted to us,
without the drive, the lists, the tension,

for now who I am needs the definition of the climb up the mountain,
when it’s time I hope my wisdom can change
and I can savor being still
and savor each hue of the sunset as it washes over me,


spring is all about beginnings,
and it can be all about endings.

by Henry Walker
April 24, ‘09