"The Wisdom of Trees" (poem)

March 21 is World Poetry Day, so I thought that I would share something that I have been working on recently.  This probably isn’t its final form, but this is where it is at as of today.

As I was traveling down

the narrow path between

            trees reaching up to the sky,

I came upon an old woman –

            an ancient crone, dressed

            in browns and greens of forest.

I asked her:

            Am I on the right path?

            Is this the path to my heart’s desire?

            Is this the path to God?

She looked at me

            and she smiled

            and she replied:

                        The right path is the one you are walking,

                                    not the one you long for;

                        and how you walk it

                                    is more important

                                                than where you are going;

                        for the one whom you seek

                                    is always with you –

                                                at the end of your path,

                                                your companion on the journey,

                                                and the one in your heart.

I smiled;

            I thanked her;

                        I continued on my way.

But when I looked back,

            Lady Wisdom had vanished

                        and in her place stood

                                    a single

                                                lofty

                                                            tree.