30 January 2024

A Winter Day at Home

 

 

Today’s grey skies set off the blackish limbs
of winter trees interspersed here and there
with bursts of evergreen.  The limbs, lacy
against the grey, seem to twine together.
 
No lake reflects them, but beneath the ground
a root mirror has more detail: fibrous  
tendrils drink, grow, and provide homes for worms
and algae.  Roots and limbs feed each other.
 
This is my view and reverie from an
apartment in a castle across the greening
field.  Behind me exists vibrant senior
community.  Within me, seven decades.
 
What is visible, what is invisible?
Past life accumulates in the present
like roots beneath the trees.  Those who sit still
in the spirit of now take in its depths.



My blog poems are rough drafts.
Please respect my copyright.
© 2024 Susan L. Chast


12 comments:

  1. Sherry Blue Sky1/30/2024 11:10 AM

    How I adore this poem, Susan - the view from your window, the vibrant senior community, and, especially, the memories of the past that accumulate like roots beneath the trees. Lovely. I love the closing line - sitting still in the spirit of now. The best possible response to the furor of the political world.

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  2. Rajani1/31/2024 7:39 AM

    "Past life accumulates in the present
    like roots beneath the trees." - how that resonates!!! I love how you say roots and limbs feed each other... yes, wednesday or not, it is the balance of nature and its relentless sustenance that feeds our soul.

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  3. Pete1/31/2024 8:12 AM

    Like that!

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  4. Mary1/31/2024 8:47 AM

    I like "past life accumulates in the present" - and for me this means that there is so much of all we have lived that is within us today. May our 'roots' sustain us as we 'travel' on.

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  5. Anonymous1/31/2024 10:14 PM

    A reflective symbolic poem. The last lines are amazing and speak truth - Truedessa

    Those who sit still
    in the spirit of now take in its depths.

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  6. Sumana Roy2/01/2024 2:05 AM

    "What is visible, what is invisible?" I like this reflection on what it was and is. The meditative mood is deeply felt in the stillness, in the roots within while the limbs seem to twine. My favorite line is : "Roots and limbs feed each other".

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  7. Kim M. Russell2/01/2024 5:59 AM

    This is my kind of poem, Susan, and I could see myself sitting in your apartment looking at the grey skies setting off the blackish limbs of winter trees’ and the ‘bursts of evergreen’. I love the idea of the root mirror with its fibrous tendrils, and the way roots and limbs feed each other. These lines are wise:
    ‘Past life accumulates in the present
    like roots beneath the trees. Those who sit still
    in the spirit of now take in its depths.’

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  8. Kerfe2/01/2024 8:24 AM

    Those roots are so beautiful, and echo so much of what connects us to the earth

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  9. Eileen T O'Neill .....2/01/2024 12:56 PM

    Susan,
    I love how you have been observing the outside world, through your window and painting a seasonal image..Reflections all about your world, including those seniors who are sitting indoors, probably mulling over many years of changes, both seasonal and personal.
    ''Those who sit still in the spirit of now, take in its depths.''...absolutely wonderful with emotion and expression..

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  10. Fireblossom2/01/2024 3:07 PM

    I enjoyed it all but especially the penultimate stanza. I also like that font! Nicely done.

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  11. Yvonne Osborne2/01/2024 4:07 PM

    You've shown us how a bare winter tree is still beautiful. So much life underneath a tree.

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  12. Anonymous2/01/2024 6:39 PM

    The ending is very zen like and filled with wisdom. If only we could sit still more - Truedessa

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