Soulful Barn, Faithful Tree

    Soulful Barn, Faithful Tree

The wood, darkened red and grey,

Here and there, as it wants. 

The doors,                                                         

Open.

They will not close.

The doors are what they are

How they are meant to be.

Inviting entrances

Into the barn’s interior mystery.

Hints of distant fields   

Through the cracks and slats of the barn,

This eccentric leans away from the westerlies,

And curious.

Who am I?

What have been my westerlies?

I don’t know about hers.

Probably not so different from my own.

She is resilient

As the winds, rain, sleet, ice, the long summer’s heat

Tore against her.

But

She stands,

Leaning,

Like her enduring, faithful companion,

The tree,

Also leaning away from the westerlies.

The Soulful Barn’s face

 And the Tree’s witness their initiation

Elders now,

Who would do no harm, cause no suffering.

The tree with thick arms leaning with her companion,

Reveals her admiration and gratitude for her faithful companion.

“Now,” the tree says, “now, 

Just be,

Just be here,

Inviting the hungry to stop

And saunter cautiously, if they must, to your entrance,

And lean inward

To absorb your steadfast resilience."




Because we lean,

We are imperfect but safe companions,

Even as the next westerly

Approaches in the distant dark clouds.

How I long for companions who are resilient

And safe and faithful as you.                                                                         copyright 2014 John Holliger

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