Men as Trees Walking - About Sons that Have Grown

I - Coaxing out the Soul


In the days
of summer listening,

and hearing what
is turning over
and over within
the stillness of

the soul -
the soul slowly
being coaxed from
out of its abode

in the great

hiding;

I heard these words,
laid out gently
next to each other


and a true sound
they did make.  A
sound that became

a song.

A song about my
two boys;

boys who have crawled
themselves out of youth
and into manhood.


II - The Growing Down and Up


In the listening
and in the knowing
a small and simple
sound has echoed
in my days -

the sound of
their roots growing
in the dirt,

the sound of them
putting down more
and more into the
soil of their lives.

The trunk of their
selves, singular
in their risings.  Their
space in the forest, one
each among the

many.

Today, this one learns
how to leave a job;
tomorrow he weds.

Today, that one learns
to prepare his own meals,
tomorrow he must set out.

All of the putting down of
our own roots that we have
done, comes to bear

in the way they too
shall draw nourishment
from the earth, from their
own separate place

on it - upon the place on
which they stand and from
which they stretch out to grow.

May they always
tap into springs
of fresh, cool droughts
of crystalline waters.

May they always
face into the sun
in the course of her
wanderings across
the sky.

May the wind
in the tops of
their branches and
in the tangle of
their leaves tickle
their souls and fill
them with the great
lullaby of wonder.

This day.
Now and
forever.