{"id":578,"date":"2014-12-23T10:21:55","date_gmt":"2014-12-23T15:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/?p=578"},"modified":"2014-12-23T10:21:55","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T15:21:55","slug":"in-praise-of-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/?p=578","title":{"rendered":"In Praise of Trees"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"trees<\/a><\/p>\n

In Praise of Trees
\nBy
\nJoseph Anthony<\/p>\n

In Praise of Trees<\/p>\n

God is in the trees,
\nwind-infused, sifting through branches,
\nwhispering eternal solutions to everyday problems,
\nwholly unafraid, spreading infinite roots,
\nholding the sun on the tips of his fingers,
\ncracking new skin making new rings appear rippling forth
\nand so on and so on unto eternity.
\nGoddess is in the trees,
\nelegant and wise,
\nmoon-shawled shoulders,
\nstars in hair, branches spreading shelter and touches,
\nand invitations to holy silence:
\nCome, sit down against me, she says, and rest,
\nfeel what real solidity is, and the strength
\nI bear in my boughs for you and birds
\nAnd climbing children, tree houses,
\nAnd nests of eagles and hawks.<\/p>\n

God is the trees, shadow-maker verdant green,
\nGoddess is in the trees, shadow-dappled fire-crowned,
\nGod is in the trees, leaning down to lift the little ones up–squirrels
\nbaby raccoons, cicada nymphs, and wayward snakes and cats,<\/p>\n

Goddess is in the trees, lifting the sky, setting out stars,
\nGod is in the trees, stirring the clouds,
\nweaving constellations of planets and stars,
\nGoddess is in the trees, mingling roots with earth and singing
\nIncantations of nourishing wonder,
\nGod is in the trees offering space for ravens to assemble, like
\nMonks and ministers, where owls can perch, like
\nJoan of Arc and Sister Odilia after her sight is returned,
\nGoddess is in the trees, tossing leaves, like
\nLittle ships, each catching a glimpse of the light
\nAs they sail away in streams and rivers,
\nCarrying holds of gold and hope for tomorrow
\nAnd now, there and here, everywhere
\nMoments are opening to space and time,
\nThat Goddess gives and gives some more,
\nGod is in the trees, seed-sailing, breath-giving
\nWanting only the best for you and me
\nAnd the giraffe nibbling leaves,
\nGoddess is in the trees, seed-spiraling, seed-blessing,
\nSeed sending, each with a message
\nThat says:
\nAbudance is real
\nAnd available
\nin each and every beat of the heart.
\nGod and Goddess are in the trees,
\nIntertwined and interwoven, like lyric and song,
\nAnd night and day, Lover, Beloved,
\nMountain and sky.
\nGod and Goddess are in the trees,
\nBlanket of leaves and branches of intricate wishes.
\nStop a moment,
\ngive yourself over to them,
\nkneel at their roots,
\nSleep in their arms,
\nPray to their slow, patient consciousness
\nPervading the ground of being with filigrees of earth-touching,
\nWater-drawing, heart-holding roots,
\nPervading the sky with air-climbing tendrils of praise
\nAnd praise and praise,
\nAnd palms that open in gratitude sweet with tears,
\nHear them as they sing:
\nYou have been born
\nAnd you have been seen
\nAnd you have been carried here
\nThrough our passageways
\nand intentions and through our conscious
\nBenevolence and kindly mischievousness,
\nThrough each ring and root and leaf,
\nThrough each swaying in summer storm,
\nthrough each autumn when we dress in our finest clothes,
\nthrough each standing still in winter, arms outstretched, gathering snow,
\nand through each spring when we surprise you again and again
\nwith green, sweet green, and blossoms that rain delicate
\nand heavenly, and fruit, more fruit than you can ever imagine,
\nit is all for you, breathe it in\u2014breathe it in.
\nThis sky is for you, breathe it in-
\nWe are for you,
\nBreathe us in\u2014
\nThis earth is for you\u2014
\nBreathe it in\u2014
\nThis moment in time and space–
\nIs for you\u2014
\nBreathe it in\u2014
\nThis song, this fragrance of unity and restfulness\u2014
\nThey are for you\u2014
\nBreathe them in,
\nAnd pray to one another
\nCompassionate prayers
\nLet your love spiral through us like
\nribboning wind, and know that we hear you
\nand know that we are you
\nand know that you\u2019re never alone.
\nLet every tree, every branch, every root, every leaf, every seed,
\nAnd every least bit of kindling and firewood,
\nEvery table and chair, pencil and bookcase,
\nLet them all be reminders
\nOf our presence and what we allow
\nAnd ache for you to make with us, create with us\u2014
\nBreathe it all in.
\nAnd know that we,
\nGod and Goddess,
\nAre here
\nIn love
\nWith you.<\/p>\n


\nThank you for your kind donations to keeping the work of the Wonder Child Blog going.
\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/form>\r\n
\n\"\"<\/p>\n<\/form>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Praise of Trees By Joseph Anthony In Praise of Trees God is in the trees, wind-infused, sifting through branches, whispering eternal solutions to everyday problems, wholly unafraid, spreading infinite roots, holding the sun on the tips of his fingers, cracking new skin making new rings appear rippling forth and so on and so on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[123,120,118,125,87,124,115,114,122,119,116,117,112,833,121,111,113],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=578"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":580,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578\/revisions\/580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}