Photo: David Wilson
Old gum tree
Our shared bleak mornings of winter.
Covid masks all around, in weak dawn light
You stand.
That misty and showery and bucketing rain.
Grim scenes of everyone masked
And silent.
A rising fear snakes through the city.
I look for you each day,
You stand.
Time stretches and shrinks, it bends and loops.
Human folly and the emerging buds of spring.
We stand.
Our shared bright mornings of summer.
Some gather and smile; others carry the wariness
Of the scarred.
Thank you Old Gum Tree.
You are. Each day you are. And so now
I stand.
To read more of E.regnans’ Almanac pieces click HERE.
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About David Wilson
David Wilson is a hydrologist, climate reporter and writer of fiction & observational stories. He writes under the name “E.regnans” at The Footy Almanac and has stories in several books. One of his stories was judged as a finalist in the Tasmanian Writers’ Prize 2021. He shares the care of two daughters and likes to walk around feeling generally amazed. Favourite tree: Eucalyptus regnans.
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Lovely thoughts, beautiful imagery. When the going is tough, we all need something that provides stability, groundedness, reliability and endurance. I find a rock and a solid place in my faith with Eph. 6:10-19 prominent – it works for me.
Wonderful stuff, e.r.
Many things happening in this poem,
but I particularly love the positive manner in which it concludes.
Thoughtful as always Er, thanks. As a kid of course I didn’t consider the positive impacts trees have upon our mental health. There’s a few I look forward to seeing when I can such as the (long-dead) eucalyptus on the 5th fairway at the Clare Gold Club and the twin Morton Bay Figs at the northern end of Kapunda High’s oval. These trees are like lighthouses for me!
And yes, trees are.