Old Growth Forest

By Kathryn Sadakierski

 

Like a huge python, winding round and round,
Roots coil around the tree,
Ancient and knowing, its rings tell the stories
That it has heard the wind whisper,
As the tree shook its leafy head knowingly,
Its gnarled bark creased with wrinkles,
Cords of ink on paper, twisting, labyrinthine,
Rewriting nature.

 

Enribboned in the soil, roots surround.
You never forget from whence you came,
The parts of the earth that remain in your memory,
Each mosaic piece a seedling.

 

Ringed around, the weathered trunks stand,
A tribe of elders, arms swaying, the branches bobbling, dancing,
Weeping willow leaves softly brushing the air,
Sweeping the ground like tears,
Like the billowing ears of elephants.

 

Fronds bow to the wind, whispering like reeds
As the wind orchestrates its mournful symphony.
Coiling around, time elapses, but the hum of the past
Echoes of memory
Are heard still;

Listen.

 

Kathryn Sadakierski from US has seen her writing published in The Bangor Literary Journal, The Ekphrastic Review, Nine Muses Poetry, Teachers of Vision, Dime Show Review, The Decadent Review, Visual Verse, iō Literary Journal, and elsewhere. She graduated summa cum laude from Bay Path University in Longmeadow, Massachusetts with her Bachelor of Arts degree, and is currently pursuing her Master of Science degree.