NaPoWriMo 19: Rooted

Rooted
This mother pine tree
is reached by tramping upstream
and scrambling up the river bank
for around 100 metres.

A Hihi male will trace your progress
calling his territory and
pausing on a low branch to
size up your intentions.

Trust pine needles cloaking the
forest floor to provide solidity underfoot
so that you not stumble into a pothole
and turn your booted ankle.

Here as you settle beneath
this pine tree the air seems
warmer. The sun filters through
and her arms shelter you.

Here a female Hihi feeds her
chicks, flitting between nestbox
and feeder, alighting briefly above you
to nibble at bark and to preen.

Here is old life and new life,
regeneration and healing
in a quiet corner where water
runs and cicadas sing.

All things here are rooted.
Sit here for a while and you too
will remember that once you
existed in symbiosis with this planet.

Not my finest work ever, but certainly one that reveals a little bit of me and why I do what I do.