don't know

what do you really know
about a tree?

a specific tree,
not just a concept

an actual tree,
the one that lives nearest you?

can you really know
if it feels,
or thinks,
or loves?

this life...
is it really just wood?

those so tiny buds,
the tenderest of leaves
just opening

what do you really know?

are you sure
it's a "tree"?

does that really tell you anything
at all?

have you ever really been present
with her?
her slightest motion,
have you listened to her,
felt her sways,
her relaxation,
her swish?

her beauty,
flexibility--
mind
that rests so easily,
so gently

body/tree follows mind;
mirror follows mind

thank you for this grace,
nothing stuck,
nothing separate,
no one the "star",
nothing more special than any other "part",
no part separate from the "whole"
nothing that doesn't belong

what do i really know about this "tree",
its communication with itself
and all...impossible to separate from "air",
"water", "sun"...
nothing at all

She
is my teacher.

I know nothing at all.
I can't even call her leaves "green".
What in the world would make that so?

how righteous!
why wouldn't i ask her,
listen to her
if i really wanted
to know
her?

is it possible
she has a language
i haven't learned

that i haven't bothered
to consider

so i thought
mistakenly
that she couldn't talk?

is it possible
i've turned my back on her,
walked right by her every day of my life,
and never yet,
really met her?

let me be still now

still
now

and see...

with out the thought
that is a tree...