The Most Patient of Masters

The color green inspires creativity,
the redwoods all live centuries,
and everyone knows about photosynthesis.
How the plants give us oxygen
and absorb the toxins that seep so steadily
from overfed, undernourished pores.
It's true that if you sit still long enough
a vine can wrap around your little finger.
That the forests with the oldest trees
have the prettiest wildflowers.
The spring bloom may be called ephemeral
for a reason.
Yet their embryos last the lifetime
of the one who can read these words.
Words printed on paper,
read on furniture.
Well, some say there are spirits
within the trunks of those ancient giants.
But in order to count the rings
the wood must first be felled.
We like to think we understand reason
and love to put boxes around ideas.
But theirs are the cells with straight edges
and the evolutionary history
with the power to attract
a specific species of moth with a tongue
twenty two centimeters long.
Well. Some flowers call to bats or bees,
but the smallest blossoms fly on the wind.
And surely you've heard about the conifers
who have adapted to love fires.
So learn from the green things,
if you would please.
The most patient of masters
are the trees.