Life through My Glasses
(A Triptych: Inspired by the complex beauty of the double-helix of DNA to which we are all beholden.
Read each poem separately and then unite them into a single strand of Life Through My Glasses
(Nature) and (Life)
ANCIENT TREES LIVE WITH THEIR PROTEAN SHAPES,
EMPTY AND STRIPPED OF LEAVES THAT PROD OUR IMAGES OF WINTER.
AS THE SEASONS COME AND GO,
INDISTINCT RESIDENTS OF EARLIER TIMES,
ARE BUT ONLY A BREADTH AWAY FROM THE HERE AND NOW.
OCCASIONALLY PAUSING TO NOTICE ME,
AMONG THRONGS OF OTHER DESERVING PERENNIALS,
THEY STUBBORNLY REJECT DEPARTING, BY WINTRY NAPPING
TO AWAIT THE PROMISED BUT AS YET UNBORN SPRING--THEIR
ONLY CHANCE FOR REBIRTH.
WHILE I SEARCH FOR MOMENTS OF PASSING GRANDEUR,
NEW LEAVES ARRIVE, FULFILLING ANCESTRAL PROMISES OF RENEWAL,
LONG SINCE MADE TO THESE TOWERING RESIDENTS OF OUR PAST,
WHEN YOU CAN COME TO ME, AS SPRING COMES TO AGELESS TREES,
TO ONCE AGAIN AROUSE LIFE, AS A LASTING AND VINDICATING LEGACY,
ONCE AGAIN CREATED, REMINISCENT OF EONS LONG SINCE PAST,
WHERE FIRSTBORN LEAVES NURTURED AND THRIVED ON A BOUNDLESS
ESSENCE OF DORMANT TRUNKS, NOW RESTORED AND FERTILE.
AH, SPRING! YOU ARE TO TREES AS LOVE IS TO MAN.
WITH THE SAME SUCCULENCE AND SPLENDOR OF IMMORTALITY, AS WHEN SPIRITS CONVERGE.
YOUR CAPTIVATING ESSENCES REFRESH THE GIFT OF LIFE'S FORCE,
AND WHAT OF LOVE? BUT ANOTHER ITERATIVE GIFT OF REVELRY,
EQUALLY ATAVISTIC FROM A REMOTE ANCESTRY, AND YET
EVER ENRICHING BY IT’S PERENNIAL NEWNESS.
REACHING, ALWAYS REACHING, FOR AN ELUSIVE AND INCHOATE
DESTINY,
LIKE RINGS OF A TREE, RIPPLING OUTWARD, YEAR IN, YEAR OUT.
I LIE AWASH IN ENERGY PASSIONATELY EXCHANGED, PEERING INTO MY SOUL, TO FIND REMORSE, FEAR, JOY, AND WONDER AT THIS NEW, AND AS YET UNTESTED, BUT WILLINGLY OFFERED EPIPHANY.
TO NOURISH WITH RECKLESSNESS AND ABANDON THAT SATISFY
ANCESTRAL PROMISES OF RE-CREATION,
FOR WHEN LOVE IS RIGHT, A NEED IS ENRICHED, ALSO STANDING TALL
AGAINST ALL RAVAGES,
EVER REACHING FOR BETTERMENT AND RENEWAL FROM NATURE,
WHO, BUT FOR THE DELICATE BALANCE OF THESE LIFE FORCES, HAS
OTHER LASTING VIRTUES?
MIGHTY TREES, AND LOVE, BREATHE LIFE INTO OTHERS,
IMBUING SPIRITS AS LOVERS DO,
PLEASING TO THE EYE, CAPTIVATING THE SENSES, PROTECTING ALL LIFE
FORMS FROM RAVAGING ELEMENTS,
TREES! EXTENSIONS OF OUR BEINGS, OR ARE WE OF THEIRS?
WITH STRONG BONDS THAT TIME CAN GROW, AND LET FLOURISH IN A WORLD BATHED IN THE SUNSHINE OF LIFE, YET NEVER FILLING THE BEAUTY OF OUR TIME.
CAREGIVERS OF THE AGES TO MAN, ALWAYS THERE,
AS ARE THE SUN AND MOON.
NEVER CHANGING, NEVER WANTING,
BENDING TO THE WIND, ADMIRING THE RAINS
PROCREATING IN ETERNAL PERFECTION.
LOVERS ALSO STRIVE FOR ETERNAL PERFECTION,
IMMERSING EACH OTHER IN KINDNESS, THE WARMTH OF PASSION,
ADMIRATION AND TRUST—THESE, THE TIMELESS METRICS OF
PERPETUATING LIFE, LIKE NONE OTHER ON EARTH.
ALL WITH BEAUTY AND GRACE,
HONED BY THE AGES, SOUNDLESS AND ERECT---
NEVER IN NEED YET ALWAYS NEEDED.
UNLIKE THE LONELY TREES, NEEDING NO ONE BUT NEEDED BY EVERYONE, WE ENDURE WHILE FIRES OF ANGST TURN TO CINDERS OF DESPAIR.
RENEWALS COME SLOWLY, IF EVER, TO US,
UNLIKE THE SEASONS, REBORN TO LAST FOR EONS.
TREES ARE STRONGER LONGER THAN LOVERS, FOR LOVERS NEED OTHERS FOR LIFE, BUT TREES SIMPLY EXIST.
HURRAH FOR NATURE---------VIVA HUMANITY!
---© Herbert B. Siegel, Ph.D., March 2004
First recital August 4, 2006
Read each poem separately and then unite them into a single strand of Life Through My Glasses
(Nature) and (Life)
ANCIENT TREES LIVE WITH THEIR PROTEAN SHAPES,
EMPTY AND STRIPPED OF LEAVES THAT PROD OUR IMAGES OF WINTER.
AS THE SEASONS COME AND GO,
INDISTINCT RESIDENTS OF EARLIER TIMES,
ARE BUT ONLY A BREADTH AWAY FROM THE HERE AND NOW.
OCCASIONALLY PAUSING TO NOTICE ME,
AMONG THRONGS OF OTHER DESERVING PERENNIALS,
THEY STUBBORNLY REJECT DEPARTING, BY WINTRY NAPPING
TO AWAIT THE PROMISED BUT AS YET UNBORN SPRING--THEIR
ONLY CHANCE FOR REBIRTH.
WHILE I SEARCH FOR MOMENTS OF PASSING GRANDEUR,
NEW LEAVES ARRIVE, FULFILLING ANCESTRAL PROMISES OF RENEWAL,
LONG SINCE MADE TO THESE TOWERING RESIDENTS OF OUR PAST,
WHEN YOU CAN COME TO ME, AS SPRING COMES TO AGELESS TREES,
TO ONCE AGAIN AROUSE LIFE, AS A LASTING AND VINDICATING LEGACY,
ONCE AGAIN CREATED, REMINISCENT OF EONS LONG SINCE PAST,
WHERE FIRSTBORN LEAVES NURTURED AND THRIVED ON A BOUNDLESS
ESSENCE OF DORMANT TRUNKS, NOW RESTORED AND FERTILE.
AH, SPRING! YOU ARE TO TREES AS LOVE IS TO MAN.
WITH THE SAME SUCCULENCE AND SPLENDOR OF IMMORTALITY, AS WHEN SPIRITS CONVERGE.
YOUR CAPTIVATING ESSENCES REFRESH THE GIFT OF LIFE'S FORCE,
AND WHAT OF LOVE? BUT ANOTHER ITERATIVE GIFT OF REVELRY,
EQUALLY ATAVISTIC FROM A REMOTE ANCESTRY, AND YET
EVER ENRICHING BY IT’S PERENNIAL NEWNESS.
REACHING, ALWAYS REACHING, FOR AN ELUSIVE AND INCHOATE
DESTINY,
LIKE RINGS OF A TREE, RIPPLING OUTWARD, YEAR IN, YEAR OUT.
I LIE AWASH IN ENERGY PASSIONATELY EXCHANGED, PEERING INTO MY SOUL, TO FIND REMORSE, FEAR, JOY, AND WONDER AT THIS NEW, AND AS YET UNTESTED, BUT WILLINGLY OFFERED EPIPHANY.
TO NOURISH WITH RECKLESSNESS AND ABANDON THAT SATISFY
ANCESTRAL PROMISES OF RE-CREATION,
FOR WHEN LOVE IS RIGHT, A NEED IS ENRICHED, ALSO STANDING TALL
AGAINST ALL RAVAGES,
EVER REACHING FOR BETTERMENT AND RENEWAL FROM NATURE,
WHO, BUT FOR THE DELICATE BALANCE OF THESE LIFE FORCES, HAS
OTHER LASTING VIRTUES?
MIGHTY TREES, AND LOVE, BREATHE LIFE INTO OTHERS,
IMBUING SPIRITS AS LOVERS DO,
PLEASING TO THE EYE, CAPTIVATING THE SENSES, PROTECTING ALL LIFE
FORMS FROM RAVAGING ELEMENTS,
TREES! EXTENSIONS OF OUR BEINGS, OR ARE WE OF THEIRS?
WITH STRONG BONDS THAT TIME CAN GROW, AND LET FLOURISH IN A WORLD BATHED IN THE SUNSHINE OF LIFE, YET NEVER FILLING THE BEAUTY OF OUR TIME.
CAREGIVERS OF THE AGES TO MAN, ALWAYS THERE,
AS ARE THE SUN AND MOON.
NEVER CHANGING, NEVER WANTING,
BENDING TO THE WIND, ADMIRING THE RAINS
PROCREATING IN ETERNAL PERFECTION.
LOVERS ALSO STRIVE FOR ETERNAL PERFECTION,
IMMERSING EACH OTHER IN KINDNESS, THE WARMTH OF PASSION,
ADMIRATION AND TRUST—THESE, THE TIMELESS METRICS OF
PERPETUATING LIFE, LIKE NONE OTHER ON EARTH.
ALL WITH BEAUTY AND GRACE,
HONED BY THE AGES, SOUNDLESS AND ERECT---
NEVER IN NEED YET ALWAYS NEEDED.
UNLIKE THE LONELY TREES, NEEDING NO ONE BUT NEEDED BY EVERYONE, WE ENDURE WHILE FIRES OF ANGST TURN TO CINDERS OF DESPAIR.
RENEWALS COME SLOWLY, IF EVER, TO US,
UNLIKE THE SEASONS, REBORN TO LAST FOR EONS.
TREES ARE STRONGER LONGER THAN LOVERS, FOR LOVERS NEED OTHERS FOR LIFE, BUT TREES SIMPLY EXIST.
HURRAH FOR NATURE---------VIVA HUMANITY!
---© Herbert B. Siegel, Ph.D., March 2004
First recital August 4, 2006
posted by Spiritus Rex at 2:24 PM
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