Tree Memory

The Tree that inspired this poem, long gone, but still in my head.

Tree Memory
By Marion
(inspired by Tao Chapter 11)

The absence of my
old Oak tree 
is as strong
a presence 
as the tree was.
In my memory the
tree still stands.
I sit in its
shade on the 
stump where it
no longer is,
dreaming.

4/1/10

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu - Chapter 11

Thirty spokes share the wheel's hub;
It is the center hole that makes it useful.
Shape clay into a vessel;
It is the space within that makes it useful.
Cut doors and windows for a room;
It is the holes which make it useful.
Therefore profit comes from what is there;
Usefulness from what is not there.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"A memory is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen." ~Edward de Bono

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The leaves of memory seemed to make
A mournful rustling in the dark.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
  
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
  
One need not be a chamber to be haunted; 
One need not be a house; 
The brain has corridors surpassing
Material place.

~Emily Dickinson, "Time and Eternity"

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

What now?  The majority of my life is behind me, in memory.  I swing daily on a pendulum of hope & despair.  Despair is so much heavier, though... I sigh...