Resilience Poem by Asher Proschansky

The fig tree
Started as a baby
And soon grew
Long winding branches
Which took over
Neighboring trees
A life force
Propelled it so strong
We dared not prune it
When it then became
Thick of trunk
And of branch
In a season
Of colossal rain
Lightning struck
Its trunk
Its fallen segments
We had to sever
Now we observe
Green buds and stems
Magically and luxuriantly
Bursting forth
From what appeared to be
A dead log -
a sawed off trunk
And that its roots
were immense
And can be seen
Through the lawn
It used to shade
And that this tree
Will arise furiously
Once again! !

If such a characteristic
We could mimic
Would that we be able
To arise
From ashes
From despair
From seeming defeat
And tap into a life force
So great that it bore
Little relation to
Altered physical or
Material dimensions