Earth-Bound

My wings are clipped

            And I am earth-bound.

I gaze up at ancient trees,

            So immense and immoveable,

            Earth-bound,

And it comes to me in an instant –

My life is as transitory as a butterfly’s in their sight.

Their lives began before me

And will continue after.

Unlike my mobile being –

            Moving to and fro,

            Trying to make meaning;

A tree’s job if simply to stand there

And hold its ground,

Weave it with their roots

To give a living net

So the rain and wind

Do not wash it away.

I, a transitory creature with a span of years

Just a blink to those giants,

My feet touch the ground

But do not penetrate.

Any net I construct last only

            As long as I am physically there.

I am too often washed away

With desire, my roots fail to hold

You, slipping away like quicksilver;

Your presence a gossamer instant.

And I, a clipped butterfly shorn of my wings,

            Am earth-bound, unbound and undone.

Ariel

Aug, 5, 2005
written at Blowout Creek,
near Detroit, Oregon

Leaning Tree by CC Willow