Returning to the root

Tao is the way
trees curve
their branches, twigs,
leaves,
and hang, with
gravity and
     against it, with
     the wind and

     resisting it, bodying
     its blow and
     the pull of earth,
     shaping
the strength of xylem
and pith,
making their green love
visible:

Tao is the way
trees turn,
     away from gravity,
     toward
     the sun, their star,
     its photons:
     the bosons its bits
     emit

as their holds on each other
slip:

Tao is the way trees, deep in dirt and light,
compose a form too fine for the I to see.

From A coat of ashes
First published in The Canberra Times, 30 June 2018