Tree in the Wind

There is something about a lone tree that compels me to take its photograph. Look at my portfolio on this site and you will find several other trees alone. I took this pic atop a barren volcanic hill at Craters of the Moon National Park in southern Idaho. In the poem below I write about what I see here but in words that frame an allegory for something else.

Alone upon this barren hill stands

a tree in the wind.

Chosen by a power not his own stood

a man by the sea.

Bent by the forces against him leaned

over the treeless plain.

Lifted by the good news he preached

what will come to be.

Curled leaves by elegant fury swayed

in the tempest ring.

Humbled with clasped hands he prayed

over heaven’s three.

Holding fast with tangled roots standing

firm upon his labor.

Carry from simple grace our burden

high for all to see.

Waiting for the wind to subside.

Waiting for a new faith to rise