The Grandmother T
ree
By Patricia Frisch
Our stories find solace under
this ancient oak tree.
The Grandmother Tree spreads out
her arms, touching the ground
in soft shawls of hanging moss.
She comforts our sorrows.
Our tears of release under her branches
expose children’s stories
of birth,
of renewal,
of life herself.
Stories that do not turn up
as the ones we would want.
Yet her wrinkles belie our own demise,
a beauty that her gnarled and thick branches
learned to carry long ago.
Our stories are carved in her branches.
No wrinkles—no stories!
Photo by Tina Schell
10