The Tree Speaks to the Tree Hugger

author’s note:

While you give to me and I give to you
True love, true love
          — “True Love”, Cole Porter


THE TREE SPEAKS TO THE TREE HUGGER

As a tree, I can see
you now fight the need
to release your abundant burden of love.
But please, surrender:
encircle me with your weary arms—
I am here to accept your offering.

As a tree, I know
you struggle because
after so much hurt
you dare not touch
anything at all.

You’re trying to escape—
you’ve numbed the pain
you’ve numbed the love.
Neither living nor dead—
you’re one more lost ghost.

But I trust your higher instinct—
I trust
your irrepressible desire for life
will eventually lift you above your fear.

Nonetheless
this separation pains me.
Yes, humans need trees
but trees also need humans—
I’m only complete when I can be
what I am meant to be:
I need to serve up comfort
to people who need
to serve up their love.

I give breath to you—
you give breath to me.
Not just the physical breath—
neither one of us can live long without
the spiritual breath of the heart.

mythsteps · The Tree Speaks to the Tree Hugger

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© 2023, Michael R. Patton

The Impossible

author’s note:

Love yourself.  Then forget it.  Then, love the world.
           — Mary Oliver


THE IMPOSSIBLE

“Love” doesn’t seem to be word enough
when talking about love.
We need a magical mix of language—

a perfect concoction
that would coalesce to create a golden wand—
an instrument that could open our hearts
with just a touch—
open us to the secret
of what we truly feel.

We’d return to that eternal alloy
again and again and again
and each time experience
the same soft explosion of emotion.

A revolution of empathy—
we’d turn and turn
and turn into
the better version we need to be
in order to survive
this calamity we’ve made.

No, forget what I just said—
that dream was dreamt by the child I once was
—not me.
Even the mystics
who created those ritual songs and texts
failed to do the impossible.

Maybe I still seem to be trying.
Well, I am and I’ll tell you why:

in this slow tedious labor
occasionally, I accidentally
touch my heart.
Yes, I touch my own heart.
And during those brief openings
I feel the secret—
I feel
just how deeply I love us.

mythsteps · The Impossible

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The Plus of My Minus

author’s note:

We all have a stairway.


THE PLUS OF MY MINUS

In a dream
I climbed to the top of the stairs
despite missing a muscle in one leg.
How I struggled.

Why would anyone hampered
by such an injury
drag themselves up a stairway
when they could just as well sit
and rest ‘til death?

Maybe I imagine
through the act of lifting myself up
I’ll transform
into someone whole.

Or maybe I hope
when I reach the top
success will ease the pain
of this deficiency.

However
I don’t think I felt triumphant
at the end of the dream.
In any case
my leg hadn’t grown another muscle.

But that’s okay--
now I can see
how my minus actually benefits me:

as I struggle I grow stronger.

So I’ll keep struggling--
I’m desperate
to rid myself of this feeling of weakness.

Perhaps my dream
is also a dream for the human race:

yes, we’re missing at least one muscle
in at least one leg
but as a result
maybe we’ll continue to struggle--
maybe we’ll continue to climb.

No, I don’t think
we will ever be whole
but with each step we take
we will lift ourselves up
and then stand in a better place.

mythsteps · The Plus of My Minus

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