The Tree Of Life Poem by Don Winslow

The Tree Of Life

Rating: 5.0


If I must live my season
As a leaf on the Tree of Life
Please let me be a leaf that lives on the edge.

Let me see the sun, let me see the stars,
Let me feel the wind, let me feel the rain,
I want no sheltered place in the middle.

Too much sun may burn me,
Too much wind may tear me,
And leaf-miners may tunnel within me.

But o, how I will have lived!
A life full of blossoms, a life full of thorns,
Leaving nothing more for this heart to taste.

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This one started with the leaf miners. They reminded me of my Cancer, burrowing within me. Next I had to resolve the what, where, why, etc. of the leaf and the tree. The leaf miner now takes a lesser place (but still there) . It’s more of a statement on my entire life. The last stanza has it’s origin in the Chinese proverb/curse- “May you live in interesting times”.
The Wellness Community- National put this poem in their Fall Wellnet news alongside of a picture of a gorgeous tree in a meadow. It just blew me away.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Fred Babbin 18 January 2010

Your poem really does touch.

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