0021 Poets' Tree Poem by Michael Shepherd

0021 Poets' Tree

Rating: 2.2


Spiky, a mass of spikes more threatening than sharp -
what are they fending off, what are they protecting
so fiercely with their green carapace like a thoughtful womb,
dropping their hidden beauties in reflective autumn
so generously despite their ferocity, scattered all around,
rejecting the curious mind of passers-by,
yielding to those who know to seek what they hold precious;
or perhaps to lie uninvestigated, awaiting the invisibility
of the wintered years, the earth’s silent fruitful grave,
to seed, to grow, to spread their glorious canopy
some later spring, some future generation,
with flowers as delicate as wild orchids?

Dare to investigate, open their spiky soft protection,
and a beauty without parallel is revealed: like some sculpture
fashioned by a master craftsman in some rich wood;
dare to touch, to lift, to hold: the surface has been polished
with some wax that’s more like precious soap,
made by some mind that knows as many secrets
as a tree.

Laugh if you will at this precious toy for boys
which, pulped into pure water, will wash the finest clothes,
redeem their stains, and leave the lightest fabric of our dreams
the radiant, palest blue of heaven itself;

chestnut tree; metaphor for poem and poet,
for those who seek a parable of unity
to join blue heaven with the rich brown earth.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM

Is this what you think, M? (I will confess, by the way, that I had to look up 'carapace'. And I bet I'm not the only one) . Your second stanza is the one I prefer to go by. Sad. Harsh. Harsh but true? If you say so - you loving, warm oaktree, amid cacti. t x

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Lori Boulard 31 August 2006

I never thought of poems and trees this way; very original. Definitely 'more threatening than sharp, ' which can be taken oh so many different ways! If I ever find this tree, I may just sit myself under it and listen to the breeze read to me through the branches. I wonder how it would sound... Cheers, Lori

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Danny Reynolds 31 August 2006

He stoops to conker? There's a distinct shortage of them this year, I hear! Danny

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Michael Shepherd

Michael Shepherd

Marton, Lancashire
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