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Saturday, 12 May 2012

Screaming Tree

This poem is based around an old legend of the Canadian Indians.

Screaming Tree

In this forbidding forest
Within a cathedral of trees
It bides its time and waits
For those that come and stand before it
To this special place
An altar of sorts
A clearing amongst the greenwood 

Massive roots like fierce, hard fingers
Grasp deep within the ground
Holding fast to the surface of the planet
Its gnarled and twisted trunk
Spiralling up into the canopy
Sweet sap oozing deep within 

Huge amongst its brothers
A giant within the greenery
Old, brooding, silent, implacable
Grounded on the surface of the Earth
Reaching through to the sky and Heaven beyond
A long, ancient finger pointing upward
Woody conduit of sound 

It hears the howling, screaming, shouting
The agony and the anger
The breast-beating of those who stand before it
Hurling their inarticulate noises
Of inexpressible passion and pain 

Drawing in this raw emotion
Absorbing, amplifying
Soaking up, staring back, immobile
Faceless, unflinching
Knotted, woody aspect
Reflecting, projecting, transmitting
Upwards for the heavens to hear
And provide an answer if they will

Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2012

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