A Poem a Day (547): The tree of knowledge

 
The tree of knowledge
 
Slide sideways in the sinking mud,
cascading rain creating a flume
to carry you fast through the forest
floor to the greatest of the wilding trees,
its foreboding largesse spread out,
trunk opening to reveal a way inside.
 
Crawl into its waiting womb,
a tomb for all those who came before,
and tread the scrawled roots down
beyond the region we call ground,
into softest earth, this endless dearth,
all sinking, all knowing, down
 
into the dampness, its secret depths,
the source of being, past burrows
and the scurrying lives of others,
into the sacred pumping heart
of the world’s being, this opening
up of knowledge, devouring you
 
as you walk this spiral, living footway
into a fairyland of endless green,
of arching branches seldom seen,
where dizzying pathways curve
and shadowy figures flick and pass,
glistening leaves whispering the way.
 
Seeking truth, you answer the trees,
understanding their many mysteries
as you step beneath the shining boughs,
translucent butterflies on the wing
adding a shimmer as bluebirds sing,
into the halls of the faery king.
 
Copyright Vickie Johnstone, January 7, 2023