The Acacia Tree Poem by Suzanne Hayasaki

A panther sits in an acacia tree
Her emerald eyes glowing in the night
Like stars peeking through leaves
In the ancestral forest of my dreams.

As silent as the wisdom she conveys.
As statuesque as the grandeur of our past.
As inscrutable as the new moon.
I gaze at her in reverence.

I know she senses my presence
But she doesn't deign to twist her thick neck
Or shift her weight on her massive paws
Or twitch that black rope of a tail.

And so I, too, stand motionless,
Waiting for her to acknowledge me,
Her daughter, her acolyte,
The heir to her earthly dominion.

We stand at the border between two realms,
The past and the present,
The spirit and the flesh,
The eternal and the finite.

But on this night, with Mars bright,
The barrier blurs and time lapses
And I will the great cat to commune with me
On the celestial anniversary of her ascension.

Her eyes finally meet mine,
They rest in the sea of my humanity,
They remember past triumphs
And the final defeat.

I surrender my mind to hers.
Like a nova, my soul explodes
Into the infinity of reality
And then contracts back.

I awake at midday
Surrounded by a herd of gazelle.
I pick up my walking stick
And begin the long trek
Into wisdom.