POETRY

The Stillness of the Trees

I muse upon an early start

Photo by Matt Johnson on Unsplash

There is a moment After a start in pre-dawn dark After dressing hastily After forty minutes Of racing through grimy, low-beamed freeways When my frenetic efforts grant me ten spare minutes I pause for coffee Step out of the car It’s then I feel it.

The stillness of the trees

Neck craning I stand Under tall grey gums Arms stretched wide Leaves unfeathered by breeze Dawn not yet ended Day not quite begun A soft mist rising Trunks indigo and green after rain The birds still singing of it As they, like me, prepare for the day

Their crown more than Thirty metres high These trees are not venerable They grow as I stand While I breathe As I think Raucous cockatoos Interrupt the flow of my thoughts Fleeting white and yellow Playing amongst the boughs Then disappear up the road

How wonderful I think To pause in this moment To be alone in this place To experience this soundless alchemy I should like to Close my eyes and bathe my soul in it For another moment The veil of my weariness lifts As shadows emerge from these giants I watch Urgency and calm smile at one another As they pass in opposite directions

I head towards the coffee shop