Children Under Trees Poem by Andrew W.K. Yip

Like little children we walked along
Nature`sway strewn with flowers, leaves and thorns,
Under tall trees and their dark looming shadows
Bright lights pierced through the mist like arrows,
We watched mesmerized, uneasy, yet unafraid,
Dazed and gazed in awe but not a word was said.

Nature`s mood in mist mystifying and passion raw,
A fury unleashed - its deadly trails we saw,
Haunting us even when our leaves of life turned golden,
Burnt brown or black - blight or trodden;
Or bare branches crushing us like rusty rods,
And thorny twigs sting and stab like swords.

Then as our winding paths diverged,
Grim and grey in a verdant maze of haze,
Like children perplexed by a blurred vision,
Anxious, leaden and long we gazed,
Paths led to paths; patches wedded to patches,
Obscured by thick bushes and undergrowth;
A jigsaw of puddles and puzzles of sand and pebbles,
Mingled with marshes of mud and mangrove.
The wind whirled in the wood and gathered the blossoms with glee
It stirred the silent streams and set the tree leaves flying free.

We looked as far as we could,
An oasis of emptiness in the wild wild wood,
Piles of boulders - bare and rude,
Perched on the peak perilous they stared and stood,
While gay granite gleamed emerald in the setting sun.
Could all these be obstacles or Nature`s whims and fun,
Or are they an orchestration of the sensual soul?
And the wood with many moods could it be high heaven or hell hole?

Yet with firm faith or divine inspiration, we set forth
Into a misty maze with mixed mood and emotions,
Under the mighty majestic trees and branches aloft.
Wary of risks and our recklessness but with renewed vision,
Clutching life`s light and shadows still unknown,
Into the muggy mist of the future on our own
Moving along this long lonely road,
To somewhere, nowhere - whatever the means or mode.