HAIBUN – A PILGRIMAGE TO MY FAVOURITE TREE

Intermittent rain and sun today. I need to adjust my focus, so I set off along the narrow road connecting my village to the next.. In the distance I can see you, my tree, the faithful one I have communed with in lockdown and beyond. You are patiently waiting for me, waving leafy fronds in the breeze.

I cherish our unspoken
Friendship. We do not need words,
you are a good friend

Your sturdy trunk has
multiple offshoots, swathed in
trailing ivy braid

Solid branches reach up
skywards, towards pure light,
sense of place so strong

I am content to stand in your presence and observe the birds coming and going with their easy sense of routine. There are sparrows and blackbirds, the occasional crow settling nearby and frightening away the smaller ones. Here with you I find calm and peace, a place to reflect and meditate.

As I run my hands
across your rough, tough gnarled bark
I hear sweet birdsong

Friend, you have stood here
for many a year, and will
be here when I’m gone

Generations will
Pass you by, yet sadly not
love you as I do.

We must say farewell now, you and I, each according to his tradition. I return home through the churchyard, pausing there again to admire the ancient yew trees by the lichgate. My heart sings.

-Margaret Royall

-Jane Dougherty