I look at a tree and i find it


I look at a tree and I find it
    taller
than any man I’ve ever met
or heard
   or told or read about

In its stance I find more meaning
  than in any word or phrase
 I’ve ever uttered

I look at it stand in the harshest of suns
and watch its canopy cover
  all arguments
with space to spare for some sparring sparrows

In its shadows
   I find the flesh of all philosophies
pecked at, eaten and dropped back to the soil
    as nutrients for nematodes

I look at a tree and how I wish
  for squirrels to run up my back
      for owls to nestle in my armpits
for a hard lignin to cover my ears and my eyes
   and for my hands to fall upwards 
where starlight beckons.

__
Salil Chaturvedi
salilwheels@gmail.com