Do you hear me trees?
Do you remember my name?
Do you recall how we sat together
And it was the world that you explained?
Now I see callous mouths
Come to instruct you gone
And the butterflies that watched us
Are singing a new funeral song.
Soft light that held us
Will you come and hold me still?
Alone in a gold world
That once with emerald was full.
Let me seek solace in memories of branches I knew.
Do you think of me trees?
I’m always thinking of you.
Nothing is there to know when we are standing at the foot of the hour
In the place with the midnight garden.
We only really become alive at night
At the time when all else is still
And something inside us is breaking
The chime on the grandfather clock feels louder somehow
And the roses who usually sprig with the hum of bees and catch the golden light
Are dull now
But they have a kind of elegance their daytime counter does not possess
Blessed be the stupor of the tree of time
Who remains infinite in his elderly pose
And watches over us all, no matter the hour;
And the twiglets and vines that rise over the brick home
Leading us neither outwards or away
Nor taking us over the pass where we no longer care to tread
We are not tired, no
But there is silence surrounding what is alive;
There is stillness surrounding what is bursting
It is a time to wake in a new way
In the surrounds of the dark
In the memory of death
In the momentary out-of-body experience
That carries us everywhere, and nowhere
And we sing the song that is only inside us
To be heard only by us
Forgiveness stays hidden in a mossy forest,
Planting trees
Building benches made from oak and teak
Many call his name
But Forgiveness – gentle, quiet Forgiveness
Only whispers.
Like years that grew the pine
Tall and grounded,
Forgiveness takes time
To find him for yourself and for others
Walk in faith
Through needle paths
And be brave.
Stay brave.
Because on those windy roads you’ll face
The very roots of the hurt you so wish to escape
Feeling, feeling,Bleeding, kneeling
Until...
Forgiveness takes the satchel from your back
The one you didn’t know you wore
And lets lightness overcome
The weight your shoulders bore.
He’ll sit with you on a bench
Made of forest teak
And let you breathe away the bitterness
That before made you weak.
Silent companion on a bench
Forgiveness touches palms and lungs
Fists and chest unclench –
And resentment leaves
Through eucalyptus leaves
Lost in the forest
With old losses you used to grieve
And you whisper, “I am more”
And stand up again. To realise –
You are so much taller than before.