Scarred

my wounds here you see

have become a part of me

every scar or scale a tale to tell

of roads traversed and n'er do well

Hoods in the Woods

my dark dark

hovel hovel nobody home
shovel shovel make me warm
windy doorless musky leaves
cross my portal honey and cream

welcome to my silent dream

Fairwell

Fairwell faithful sentry of the forest.

[April 28, 2000, Oakville]

Everything You Need is Right Before You

Openness to change does not mean being able to move so much as remaining in the stillness.

It means standing your ground even as the sun arcs across the sky,

even as the hurricane threatens to rip you out of your very foundations.

Seasons change.

It is a matter of course.

Everytime a branch breaks off, the entre tree grows stronger

and next year there is a new layer of growth.

Nature has great faith in the loving, merciful and procreative powers of the universe.

It is the enduring strength of this aith that urges on the Spring each year out of Winter's death sleep.

Listen to the birds rejoice, praising the Lord over and over with their songs of jubilation.

Who can listen and not be affected?

They do not pour out their grief to complain about the harsh trials winter has pu them through,

but joyfully throw to the wind their cares,

forgetting all injustice.

For a model of divine, unconditional love,

you have only to look in your own backyard.

The Journey

Life-giving sap takes the longest, most arduous pathway

to get to th tiniest particle of leaf.

So it is that the Divine is most concerned

with the least of His subjects.

[1990's, Oakville, Ontario, Canada]

Don't Judge a Book by It's Cover

Dear God, help me to see past the bark of people through to their inner sap.

Some of the most gnarled, mangled, mishapen trunks

hide some of the sweetest, purest life-giving nectar.

Brethren

In a forest I seem to stand alone and apart from my brethren.

Yet, invisible to you, our roots meander underground,

touching and caressing one another in a loving greeting.

So too do you all walk he earth,

your thoughts the living roots that sustain you and bring you closer together.

[1990's, Muskokas, Ontario, Canada]

Cuddling

"Let the children come to me." [Mathew 19.3]

Sorcerer's Accoutrements

The older I grow

The more I know

I know nothing.

Florida oak tree, a conservation spot somewhere near Tampa, 1990's

Leprechaun's Lair

Patience is a seed thinking about becoming a tree.

Within every seed lies an infinitity of forests.

In The Hollow of My Heart

I am stillness, yet my branches move.

The sap flows from my roots to and through my leaves.

It is not I who changes and flows

but I am

the vessel for the expression of that life-giving force.

Wild, Happy and Free

Happiness is:  a bird singing on my branches, a nest attached to my limbs...

being able to host a new group of baby birds,

drinking in the rays of the sun.

Twist of Fate

Sometimes the wind blows us off course and we grow crooked.

The bends and twists of our choices are there for all to see.

The crooked tree that rows out of the cliffs over the wind swept rocks captures awe...

It has survived great fierce storms and bears the marks of great courage and endurance.

The Sentree

Wicklow Mountains, Ireland 1990s

Just a few hunded meters away a crew was filming a scene from Animal Farm.

Look close, you'll see a little sentry figure standing under the leaves on the left side.

Touching One Another

photo by Alison Keogh, 2008

"Where two or more are gathered, there I am in your midst."

Tree Spirit

Tree Spirit, Lions Valley Park (winter of 2007) - Do you see the face?

The face and character, etched more sharply by the ravages of time, begin to reveal themselves.