Interview With a Sycamore (poem)

by | Jul 29, 2025 | 3 Meek, Poetry

Interview With a Sycamore

J. Marshall Jenkins

If the young sycamore, so open-armed
in my yard, could answer, I would ask,
“Do you yearn to reach higher, wider, spring
greener with more leaves? In the fall, will you
strive for color? In winter, will you strain
strong arms and fingers to offer more birds
rest than the previous winter?” Surely 

the sycamore would laugh. Why not expect
the tree to throw her limbs around me weeping,
gratefully confessing her life of quiet
longing, her loneliness as we enjoy
her shade, birds her rest, all life her nurture,
never acknowledging her struggle to
be more, to live up to an idea?

I would listen, Lord knows. But I hear laughter
in her silence. “I grow as I welcome
waters in my roots and pores, let air play
in branches, make love with light, ground the ground.
Storms? I am stronger where I heal. Things will
change tomorrow. Why fight to make it so?
Beauty comes as I rest in who I am.”

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Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5).

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