Trees, for me, and cypresses in particular, are a wellspring of creative inspiration. As a source of wellness, for mental and emotional sustenance, I will often just sit and be, for a moment beneath a Monterey cypress, looking out to the ocean.
On the coast, where I live in Pacifica, California, Hesperocyparis macrocarpa frames the landscape, defining a place worth knowing. Reflecting on life’s challenges and adventures, in the shade of a giant, is a way I know to get grounded, discover the calmness that may be, and to channel my personal muses into a bit of writing, perhaps a painting, or even a poem.
The photographs and poetry curated below are a small selection of those moments, which you might discover for yourself one day, in a fateful wandering along the rocky shore where my friend Old Hespero will be – ever rooted, humbly branching out, and waiting for your visit. Remember, that not all those who wander, in truth, are lost…
AN ODE TO HESPERO (IN FOUR PARTS)
I. A WOUNDED ONE
I saw you
Wounded
Branches strewn
Across the barren hill
Structure splintered
Form forlorn
Deadwood more
Than living limb
But yet!
Resilient
Growing on
Defiant green of spring
II. A DANCING ONE
I see you
Dancing
Standing, still!
Lone, rooted on this slope
Spirit sprouting
Faith founding
Living on
While dying slow
Sun set!
Becoming
Evening moon
Your failure yields new limbs
III. A GROWING ONE
I know you
Growing
Weighted ends
Branching after failure
Striving sunward
Foliage flowing
Rocky coast
Your fateful home
Roots met!
Initials
Layered earth
In death, a growing story
IV. A WOODEN ONE
I love you
Wooden
Hespero
Ohlone sacred wonder
Sylvan steward
Forest friend
Salt sprayed sand
Weave, rooted in
Forget!
I shall not
Your story
Held within my wooden heart
———————————————————————-
SWEPT AWAY
A tribute, a tree
Standing ‘stride rocky shore
A memorial place
For humans living no more
Stones left in your shelter
In the lee of your life
Messages of mourning
Grieving our mortal strife
Your branches, oft’ broken
Yet growing on new
A healing space have you been
Sorrow, swept away true
—————————————————————–
A SACRED PLACE
A sacred place
To sit today
Mindful of your refuge
And the prospect
Far beyond
That windswept, watered deluge
At ocean’s edge
You ride the breeze
I see so, in your branching
Green, yet browning
On the edge
Our shared mortality, waning
In this life
We humbly grow
If we’re lucky, on with purpose
Time is fleeting
For us all
Live richly, beyond mere surface
Grow on deeply
Like the trees
The standing people, stewards
Strive for meaning
Mindfulness
Wand’ring nobly, towards
A sacred place
———————————————————————-
A POINT TO WANDER FROM
Sawtooth’s edge
In foggy distance
From northern land
I gaze to thee
In pilgrimage
I walk the path
The broken road
That leads to sea
Your granite peaks
Beckon a journey
With cypress strewn
Along the way
Each fateful step
Brings new awareness
To the humble listener
Seizing each day
Now many moons
Pass on with purpose
My own growing branches
Bend and sway
Seeded with evergreen learning
Lessons upon lessons
Never cease to amaze
Strive on in searching
Towards a point you may find
But, reaching each zenith
Your mystery branches in kind
On and on
Ever onward
Milestones not to be
Just meandering journey
Of life’s infinite majesty
So I stay in the day
For the wonders that call
Do you see it? Will you listen?
Nature whispers to all…
