“Light takes the tree, but who can tell us how?”
                                                                        Theodore Roethke 

     

Inside that split nut is enough life

to build a system of root, leaf, stem.
When tender first radicle root splits
itself in two it turns itself inside out.
 
Again when an ivory sliver becomes 
sharp undeniable jade, a driven blade
plunging into the heart of the low sky.
There is something the trees know.
 
That moment the first spears rise
from below, the seed begins to die.
Step under the branches of a tree
above the roots, from dripline to heart-
 
wood is offered. Find yourself quite
alone, inside the body of eternity.
Back to the first thing, the sanctuary;
as supple as wet air, quiet as light.
 
What passes for faith, in the silence
while the sharpened amber of day rises?