Umbrella Tree

I had fun doing this one. Started with a photo of a bare winter tree, and went from there. :D

(signed with "Benni" as that is the name I use in my art group)

The Old Misty Tree

The Old Misty Tree

The Old Misty Tree

The old misty tree stands all on her own
Watching and waiting, forever alone

Once she was young, just a century since
When children with joy, did laughter dispense

When lovers did meet with wine and embrace
Lay under her bows, shed shyness and lace

Yet now she has aged, grown hard and too cold
Seen far too much, with nothing to hold

Her limbs creek and rattle, her leaves flutter dry
Her trunk wide and gnarled, her heart full of sighs

Owls sit high upon her, in deepest of night
Birds nest in her crooks, red feathers a bright

Within her dank holes, squirrels snuggle sweet babes
Wild nature abounds in the cool of her shade

The years she has seen, the ages gone by
The sorrows she knows, the reasons she cries

She’s been there for many and seen them all die
She’s questioned and wondered and asked her God why

Why a tree must grow old, and stand through the years
When all else that sprouts must soon disappear

If only she could, she’d pass from this earth
Rest and then sleep while others are birthed

Yet stand she still must, till her time of release
When she too can find silence, darkness and peace

So know you know why, when you pass her by
Why her brown leaves weep misty, when the skies, they are dry

Tim Wilkinson & Wayne Wilks

WHITE TREE AT TWILIGHT

WHITE TREE AT TWILIGHT

Shadowed by a sunless wood
Where loveliness should never grow,
Her branches spilled their starry foam
Like unexpected fall of snow.
A white spire singing of maidenhood
Beside a dead or dying tree
Shed quicksilver blossoms that trapped the light,
Kindling the thicket beneath the dome
Of the slow-descending, star-heavy night —
And hope soared up like a litany.

Ellin Anderson

Roots

 

ROOTS
     

I am like a tree -
my feet spread out to travel and embrace the gifts
and hardships
the world has in store for me.

I travel in suspension -
my growth is slow but my spirit is large.
I reach toward the sun in exultation -
my cries and whispers heard only in the wind.

I am vulnerable -
but do not appear so.
My fortress of presence provides protection for those that would rather
use others
for shade and shelter.

I dance in honor of my being -
I sway from side to side in the rhythm
of my own song.

I absorb all the sorrows,
joys, dreams, anger and triumphs
of those around me.
Twisting and turning to find my own way
towards enlightenment.

I am like a tree -
my growth is invisible
until my death
exposes my maturity and worth.

Ashley Page Bates