My Breathing Tree

Artist Credit: Peace, Be Still by James Browne
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~ My Breathing Tree ~

When

I was a girl

there was a tree

growing quite close

beside a porch. A walnut tree

with arms so strong it safely could

hang on to me as I climbed up high 

with a book in hand and tucked 

myself in the crook of a limb

There I’d sit as still as could be

barely breathing so I could see if

what I felt was the breath of the tree

It had to be. I could feel her, snug

against my back with the gentle rhythm

of a living hug. I was sure she breathed

her love for me as she held me close - and I

so still as not to break the magic spell while

I sat with my book in the arms of my tree

and read of lives I wanted to be

At 80 now, I still recall it vividly

that sense of the tree  

 breathing with me 

JoMae

11/19/18