A necessary descent

Day 6,040, 18:00 • Published in USA USA • by Pfenix Quinn
The Parish Review

Vol.1, No.7, Day 6041

"I wonder about the trees." ~ Robert Frost, The Sound of Trees





Servants.
Soldiers.
Scalliwags and sailors.
Swindlers and saints.
It is clear from the myths that the gods found it necessary to descend,
that they had to suffer,
to feel mortality,
to leave the heaving table by the roaring fire where angels played heavenly strings
and go wandering, as an old wretch does,
requiring the guidance of a strong youth.
As the living do.

The straight, stout trees are impressive stalwarts of treedom,
reaching directly to the stars without stopping for distractions.
The ones who bend and twist in fractal repetitions,
reaching this way and that in thier tortuous climb towards sun and moon,
are less useful for timber,
flinging their jazz-finger tendrils gleefully akimbo,
to the delight of baby cardinals nesting in their skepticism.