Ode to a Coast Live Oak
by Carl Grant.
Bark of alligator skin, moss laden
Your strong, contorted arms spread wide
What faith you have in dropping
Your children to the earth
Where brother squirrel buries some
To grow up down the road
And of others makes a feast.
Bark of alligator skin, moss laden
Your strong, contorted arms spread wide
Welcoming your guests –
God knows how many and varied they are:
Squirrels, raccoons and then those birds!
Like the red-tailed hawk who burst from hiding
In your canopy and with consummate ease
Rose silent on the updraft.
Is she alive because she ate the squirrel
That consumed your progeny?
And do you yet grant her the comfort of your bosom?
And how many of her siblings have found repose
In your arms, O tree hospitable!
Bark of alligator skin, moss laden
Your strong, contorted arms spread wide
Do you ever resent these visitors
Who arrive random, unannounced?
How about those nematodes and borers?
I’ve heard you’re somehow sentient –
If you were an Ent (not saying you ain’t)
What would you say about them?
Bark of alligator skin, moss laden
Your strong, contorted arms spread wide
Performing daily your alchemy of turning
The poison of my every out-breath to
The very thing I must breathe or else die.
Dear faithful friend, live oak,
Would to God my life were half so True as yours.
Cal Grant is a contemplative and spiritual director in Concord, California.
