Sunlight slants through tracery of branch and fork in trees
A lace of shifting shadows spun of sunlight, breeze, and leaves
Each silhouette in shadow but a moment on the grass
Like portend dreams of slumber that surface – then they pass
A “stand of trees” a point that’s fixed amid the flux of life
Sentinels of centuries take the long view of our strife
They gift us shade and majesty, point to heights we cannot know
Trap secrets of the universe, stand steady in the flow
Their stillness is prescient in histories sad gyration
And trees there be near you and me that’ll eclipse “civilization”
Our passing goes unnoticed long before they fall
Living with our trees we are not central after all
Alone they stand upon this land rooted in one place
Curing our souls, soil, and air while all around we race
What in life is not improved by a moment in their shade
Just you and me, a macadamia tree – our cathedral in the glade
