Old tree
Giant towering
Above the forest;

You
Who saw the rise
Of ancient suns,
The fall of principalities,
The ageing of creation;

You
Who drank the drought
And bathed in mists
Of thousand winters
Cold;

You who heard
The rapture of mountains,
The breach of the seas
And the angry thunder
Of broken waters
Icy;

Silent,
Timeless
In ageless majesty,
Sleepless guardian
Of mysteries old;

You
Whose confiding silence
Heard plotters
Whisper conspiracy
On your night probing branches;
You who heard
The savage angry cry
Of angel turned brute,
Seen the slaughter of
Father by son,
The rape of sister by brother,
The innocence of infancy
Starve to laughing demon;

Yet,
Every morning
A new orient bride
You kiss,
And sip the ancient nectars
From the earth’s hidden veins;

And every blessing summer
Adorned in new blossom
More life
You bring on earth.