On A Different Note...

While I wish my life the last few months were as fun as watching The Amazing Race and writing about it have been, the reality is that my siblings and I have been struggling with some very difficult and painful issues related to my father's health, and there are many days when it seems like nothing more bad or complicated could possibly happen on top of what we're already dealing with...and then it does. Monday was one of those days, and so I wrote the following poem for myself, for my family, and for anyone else who is feeling a bit battered by life.

Hope Trees

We’ve all seen them,
those trees in the open spaces
that have weathered, unprotected,
the buffeting blows of strong winds
that swoop and howl against them
over and over and over again
until the trees stand hunched
in the shape of those winds
and bend in the direction of their will
even when the air is still
and the sun shines merrily upon them.

There is tragedy written
in those twisted limbs,
and the gnarled bark
is worn and tired.
And yet we stare at them
and marvel at their beauty
and the story their shapes tell.

They have endured.
Despite the wind’s best efforts,
despite the assault of tireless troubles,
they have endured.

They have endured,
and so, I hope, shall we.