Tall and noble you stand
Members of a sacred council
Silent in wise consensus
I remember your rooted past
See your swaying present
Imagine your reaching future
I sense your patient pulse
Touch your fibrous skin
Embrace your ample girth
You and the earthworms
Alone are the survivors
Of a lost world of giants
You are the guardians of time
The keepers of ancient wisdom
The elders of our earthly tribe
What would you teach us
If we had the humility
To sit at your feet and listen?
What secret knowledge
About surviving and thriving
And growing old gracefully?
What patient lessons
About thinking big, starting small
And aiming high?
I am a comforted babe
Rocked to sleep in the cradle
Of your gentle ways
I am a curious child
Scaling the heights of possibility
In your outstretched boughs
And when I leave
To pursue my impatient life
I carry you in my heart
And when you or I die
You will be my ancestral guides –
Oh, Great Fathers of the Forest
Wayne Visser © 2001
Book
Wishing Leaves: Favourite Nature Poems
This creative collection, now in its 3rd edition, brings together nature poems by Wayne Visser, celebrating the diversity, beauty and ever-changing moods of our planet. The anthology includes many old favourites like “I Think I Was a Tree Once” and “A Bug’s Life”, as well as brand new poems like “Monet’s Dream” and “The Environmentalist”. Then as we turned our faces to the moon / Our hands entwined, our hearts in sync, in tune / We felt the fingers of the silken breeze / And made our wishes on the falling leaves / A gust of wind set off a whispered sigh / Among the trees that leaned against the sky. Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.
