and what if
you grew roots,
awakened spirit,
became treebound–
your blood flowing
glorious amidst sapwood–
your body suddenly
magnificent, unhewn—
your arms branching
toward the sun,
Familiar to birds,
ancient, floating
on the breath of wings–
your heartwood
trembling, weightless,
awash in light?
A quadrille for dVerse, where De has given us the word wing, and for earthweal, where Sherry has asked us to speak for the trees. I’ve also used Jane’s Oracle 2 words as inspiration.
K. 
“on the breath of wings” is such a gorgeous line!
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Thanks De.
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My new favorite word/idea/hoped-for fate: treebound. I can easily imagine these things just over the horizon ❤
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Thanks Jade. I hope we are getting closer to recognizing all living things.
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You’re welcome.
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Gorgeous verse and painting, the trees always charm me! ❤️🌳❤️
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Thanks Tricia. Trees support life, in all ways.
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💯
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“and what if you grew roots, awakened spirit?” is such a beautiful question. I absolutely adore this poem. Gorgeous writing!
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Thanks Sherry. It would be a wonderful thing.
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Love it! So many prompts brought together in a mesmerizing mosaic of words and images!!
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Thanks Muri. They all fit together today.
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Such a beautiful, smooth flow of imagery, and seamless integration of prompts. Salute!
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Thanks Ron!
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I love the images your words conjure up here. Your poem reads like a kind of hymn.
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Thanks Suzanne. Trees are both holy and sacred. At one time humans understood that.
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I really like your metaphor of becoming a tree!
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Thanks Dwight.
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You are welcome!
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This is now a favorite of mine.
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Thanks David. You can’t go wrong with either wings or trees…
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I think we might learn a lot in the transformation!
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I agree Ingrid.
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loved the imagery in this.
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Thanks!
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what majestic artistry you weave Kerfe … we would never harm another tree 🙂
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Thanks Kate. Let’s hope that is so–soon!
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An inspired prompt combination, Kerfe! The title, artwork, mythological story and quadrille complement each other so well. I would be happy to become a tree to experience my ‘heartwood / trembling, weightless, / awash in light’.
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I would too Kim. Thanks.
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OMG. What a flight of imagination. Lovely.
Thanks for dropping by to read mine.
Much💛love
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Thanks Gillena.
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What a beautiful image you have created, Kerfe! Everything, from the title to the artwork is outstanding.
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Thanks Punam. Trees are good inspiration.
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A beautiful poem that stands so wonderfully, without need of any image (though I know you love to pair ’em).
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I do. Thanks Brendan.
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What if, indeed. This is a glorious tree-tribute. (I’m logged out of your blog again)
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How does this happen that you write EXACTLY what I was going to write, “What if, indeed.” 🙂
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I don’t know. And it’s strange whichever way you look at it.
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It IS! 🙂
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I know we both speak the same language, but we speak slightly different versions of it. No reason at all for coming out with the same turns of phrase.
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I hadn’t thought of that. That makes it even weirder.
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I’m willing to believe in lots of strange possibilities. Not complete impossibilities though.
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Well, it’s a strange possibility. 🙂
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I often find the same thing occurring…thoughts in parallel. It is a strange thing.
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It is very odd. Sort of comforting and unsettling both.
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Thanks Jane. Trees!
(and WordPress…)
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Gorgeous, Kerfe. A magical combination of words and image.
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Thanks Merril. I’m sure the Oracle had a hand in it…
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You’re welcome, Kerfe. She always does, I think.
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Pure magic, Kerfe, leaving us, flesh as we are, “heartwood trembling.” And to be “awash in light”: that phrase itself is pure joy.
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Thanks Dora. Trees are magic.
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Love the way you used the contrasts here… both earthbound but still reaching the sky.
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Thanks Bjorn.
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This is gorgeous writing as is the artwork. Once I was on a retreat and we had to visualize becoming a tree. It was an amazing exercise growing branches “awash in light” as you wonderfully phrased it.
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Thanks! That’s a good visualization prompt.
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So lovely beautiful. A what if with space to breathe it all in in this poem. And perfect pairing too.
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Thanks Lindi.
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What a beautiful direction you went with that combination. I would love to be treebound and have such abundant company.
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Me too! There’s a good chance our molecules could eventually become treebound. That’s the true meaning of eternal life I think.
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Hi Kerfe, this is such an interesting poem.
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Thanks Robbie. Trees are very inspiring.
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The stuff dreams are made of! I love ‘tree-bound’.
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Thanks!
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Becoming Daphne – wonderful poem, so lovely and evocative. The artwork is marvelous too. I especially like the one at the top of the post.
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Thanks Aletha. These are monoprints. I should do more, though I’m sure they would come out completely different now. I can never recreate what I’ve done before.
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