If I were a tree...

If I were a tree I would be a yellow one
or one whose leaves glisten gold in fall


I would have enough curvy branches to
welcome birds and squirrels to play


I would want to be rooted on a hill in a park
watching children play and summer picnics


I would be wide enough for two to lean back

against my trunk reading to each other


I would stand close enough to other trees
so we'd shed our leaves into a kaleidoscope of color
and where I'd not break under the wind because
we are close enough the wind plays in our leaves, singing like a violin


I would listen to the groans and whispers
of wisdom from the old oaks
as they shelter me from the worst
of the storms and hottest sun

I would listen to the weepy reflections of the willows
and tales of winter’s wonderland from the evergreens


But most of all I’d like to be near the babbling brook
Not just to hear the fish tales and the rocks' classics


But to be where all our roots come together for refreshment
at the source of life – deep and renewing


And here I would have more than enough


I could help shade the saplings near me
and show them how to stretch out their branches
uncurling our leaves together
hailing the arrival of a new spring




*Jeremiah 17:8
He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."