The Tree- proudly rejected by Ruminate Magazine

This is one of my favorite poems that I have written. I was really trying to tell my whole testimony in imagery. I was happy with how it turned out.

The Tree

9/13/09

The seed was planted in me almost before I remember.

Its then-tiny hair roots spread gently through the soft childish soil in a corner of my heart.

For some years it grew, a tiny sapling,

Watered and cared for by my mother and father.

Then the day came when the leaves on its two thin branches unfurled and tiny

Bud-like fruits appeared,

And I began to try to water it myself.

But the only water I could find was brackish, and the weeds in the soil were ensnaring

and tricky.

I tried to beat them back, and I wore myself weary trying to find good water.

The weeds wrapped themselves around the plant’s roots and many tendrils atrophied.

I felt sure that the plant would die and I despaired.

But the seed had come from such strong stock that the tap root simply waited, until the

Weeds eventually disappeared.

To my amazement, the tree grew taller even though I could not find good water,

and its roots spread many, many feet through the soil.

I am not sure when I stopped trying to water the tree myself.

But at some point, the roots had tapped into the Water of Life.

And slowly, the roots have brought the Water of Life to me.

I could not remove the tree now if I tried, because its roots are so deeply imbedded in the

now-adult soil of my heart.

I am not sure where the tree begins and where my heart ends.

I rest in the shade of its branches and drink from the spring that has appeared at its

Base.

I have often noticed that the tree, which is now mighty, with heavy fruit, has

grown into the unmistakable shape of a cross.