TREE

What kind of tree did the lumberjack choose?

Or did the tree beckon him somehow?

When he swung his axe did he know the trunk’s fate

As he wiped the sweat from his brow?

 

Who carried the felled tree from its natural place

And laid it on a pile?

Whose hands chose the stump that would

Journey that famous mile?

 

Who shaped the wood beneath its bark

Into a shape of endings?

And how did the inner rings of that sad tree

bear its anguished rendings?

 

Did it know its job that day

When carried through the crowd?

Did it lighten its weight by a trick of nature

Underneath that very black cloud?

 

Did it scream with pain when the nails entered

And held a lasting Saviour?

Did it ooze its sap into His wounds?

Healing was its last favour.

 

When breath was done and night did fall

Did it weep the water out?

With the body gone did it start to rot

Knowing what that had been all about?

 

Had God bestowed such wisdom upon it

And planted a seed of energy

That knew the Truth and all that would happen

A miracle for human race to see.

 

So that when the tree lay discarded

Its powers released and purpose completed

Sent message to the earth –‘it’s time!’

And spring sprang forth, death defeated.

 

New shoots from undergrowth burst out

Colour amidst the gloom

A ray of sunshine hit the ground

And broke the world’s grip of doom.

Then rain it fell so softly

And washed away the stain

The moss was moist upon the bark

Brown forest becomes green again.

 

Did we thank the earth for providing

The palms, the hyssop and ash

Did we even notice the donkey, the cockerel or birds of the air

When we were wrapped up in our own life’s dash?

 

Slow down and smell the roses

They are especially for you

Each year more precious than the last

And worries you need so few.

 

Because the cycle of nature tells us

All will be well if you Trust

Everything is given for a reason

As part of a plan you are a must.

 

 

So go about life reassured

You’re important not just for a day

With treasures all around us

Make sure of time to play.

 

Say hello to a tree and hug it

Or put your ear to its stem

Listen to the whispers of breezes

As it was when the world first began.

 

Tree stood in the Garden of Eden

God’s knowledge it did hold

It was to be a part of life

That forever would be told.

 

Sue Flint ©