Thought I would share a poem I wrote last term. Apologies if you have already seen it. It was borne out of a walk around Muir Woods in San Francisco a couple of years ago, and a deep sense of how I felt about people who have such a strong, current influence on my life but who died several years ago. There have also been a number of recent deaths of prominent people, whose legacy is palpaply felt or actively fostered. I think in our culture we dont always have the language to explain their current presence. Friends have been kind enough about the poem to share more widely as some people have found it helpful. Its called Fallen Trees:
Throughout the woodland lie the Fallen Trees
As much a part of life as those that stand.
Cut short in youth or weathered by long years,
Uprooted now, they stretch across the ground.
But see what lives are nurtured by them now,
The creatures seeking nests, the plants that climb.
And even the goodness from each leaf, each bough
Transformed, is found in myriad trees in time.
So those we love, now fallen from our sight
Live on in countless ways beyond their day.
What they held dear, in what they took delight,
Shape choices that we make upon our way.
So honour them, and live as they have shown
And in your time, know what you will pass on.
Grain of Sand 