Written by Lori Carlson 03/2023

As I walk through the trees, I wonder…
Are they aware of the breeze that blows their branches?
Are they reveling in the sunshine that gives them light to grow?
Do they express love as they communicate through their roots?
Do they sense the passing of my boots
on the ground so close? crunching on dried leaves
shed as part of the cycle of rebirth
that leads to the greening of spring?
Do they know this thing?
Of how they inspire me ?
Whether pruned or cut
landscaped or growing wild
rooted or uprooted
or bonsaied even
still, they are always trees.

Can I be like a tree?

So authentically me
that nothing knocks me off course?
that nothing anyone says or does
or any kind of outside force
can compel me to try to be
anything other than me.

Can I be like a tree?

Can I reach my roots so deep
into the essence of who and what I am,
be so firmly planted in this knowing,
in this soil of creative expression
forever expanding, evolving and growing
into a greater version of me.

Can I be this free?

Because this is true freedom
the freedom to know yourself,
to be yourself,
and to not change to please another
no matter the season or the supposed reason
to never let go of that upward urge,
of that branching into wholeness,
of that new life ever wishing to manifest
regardless of one’s age or stage of life!
ever expressing in as and through each one
each bud ever reaching for the sun
ever stretching towards the sky
ever wishing to know and experience more…
more life, more joy, greater wholeness.

Can I be like a tree?

Can I stand firm amidst the passing winds of change?
Can I know myself so well
that I stand tall and not fall
for anyone else’s drama?
Casting shade for those who desire it
Sharing nutrients with those who require it
Creating oxygen for those around me to breathe.

Can I do this?
Can I be like this?

Can I weather whatever comes
with the inner resiliency
of the one?
That life force of Spirit ever expressing,
as me,
as a tree
as all we see…

Can I be Like a tree?

Can you see that in me?
As I sprout and leaf and come into spring
with the joy that I bring
and a readiness for new growth,
letting go of the old, yet luxuriating
in the rich mulch of my past
that now feeds my future.

Join me

Breathe deep,
smell the soil,
feel the tree within you.
Let your roots dig deep
and stand tall in who you are.
Grow strong in the forest of community,
where we feed one another’s authenticity
and shade each other with love.

Join me.
Be free.
Breathe deep.
and be like a tree.