The Animated Trees, by DH Jenkins

The Road Menders, by Vincent Van Gogh (Netherlands) 1889

​The Animated Trees

The animated trees lead us off the main road,
their gnarled trunks a hundred years old,
bark rippling bulked by wind and sun. 

Their branches are uplifted arms holding up
the sky from crashing, holding golden leaves
like a canopy to provide shade
of a blistering, corrosive summer's day.

The road is like a river, its bed pebbles and sand
over which stones are being set
spreading this road along time and space
giving us a path between the ordinary & sublime.

On the other side of the line of noble trees--
women in dark clothes nip and preen
carrying shopping bags, talking of dancers,
Maupassant, and vacations to come.

One workman in overalls chisels a large stone,
another polishes it,
and it is fitted in the avenue like Greek sculpture,
which is the high path
of logos that keeps us on the road, keeps us from
wandering off into forbidden zones.

However, it's the trees lining this bulky road
that tell us when to stop and contemplate
how long to wander and when to rest. 

And it's the trees that will return 
us to our other selves--
the wild ones that danced in forests of azure,
the curious ones who 
worshiped stars of the deepest darkest night,
the adventurous ones 
who escaped domesticity to find
solemnity in the sublime.

DH Jenkins​

DH Jenkins's poems have appeared in Jerry Jazz Musician, Global South, Kelp  Journal, and The Ekphrastic Review. He lives in New Zealand where he enjoys hiking in the Southern Alps, as well as snorkelling in the Pacific Islands. His new book of poetry, Patterns on the Wall, is available on Amazon.com.