Motherwillow

A sigh she is, trickling fronds over the lilies white

By the brook she stands, a figure lean and slight

Can you hear the breath of her, her whispers in the wind?

Dousing fears born by stippling rain, stones freckling above water

Endure, she speaks to fauna, to quaking fur and muscle in their dens blinking bright eyes to sky

For fee, fi, fo, fum, a tempest is nigh

Gently, she is softening their furrowed brows of fright

Her smile is lifting, wrinkles creasing, crowfeet in her bark

Indigo is rolling in, lacing clouds with purple light

Joining them is roaring thunder, sweeping in at last

Kindness of God to drench the earth pours down her face in rivulets

Life, loss, love, laughter, elemental, transcendental change

Melting away the ash, the dirt, rinsing this earth of hers, theirs, ours -

New, emerging, comes the freshness, cleansing creatures

Oceans of cloudpour fill the brook through which the fish swim happily

Placated by her swinging branches, curling fronds trailing merry

Quailing creatures begin to braven, sniff out of their burrows

Roam into the world anew, rest within her glade

She is mother, nature, nurture, gentle, softened, strong

Thus she bears the storm with grace, reminds us of the beauty of this place

Under her wreath of leaves, a warm embrace

Verily planned to welcome as -

Westward blow the winds, the thunder, her sighs and smiles turn to wonder

Xeric has turned by rainfall to damp, luscious grows the moss beneath her

Yielding, she, to quake and tempest, resilience roots in her rings and she sings -

Zen