-- The Great Banyan --

By John Herlihy

The great banyan tree will always stand forever tall,

To be humble in its presence renders the onlookers small.

Its extended limbs gather the world into its embrace;

From the distance, the majestic tree wears an eternal face.

Its entangled roots reach high into the highest heavens;

Its entwined branches reach low into the lowest lands.

Its sole reality but a mirror reflection of the true totality,

Its living shadow the quintessential spirit of the One Reality.

The tree has withstood the test of time down thru the ages;

Its fingers and limbs lifted in the prayerful attitude of sages.

Massive and aloof, the tree’s promise of life simply soared;

Its shadow blanketed the landscape below, by squatters adored.

I stood before her, feeling elemental, as if greeting an old friend;

A squirrel ran up its trunk, then stared back at me without end.

Its bright eyes fixed and knowing, as if I brought danger along;

Finally, it skimmed lightly over the leafy branches and was gone.

Now the ancient tree itself stared back at me in all her wonder;

A repository of memory and emotion, I trembled in its thunder.

Who am I this infinitesimal speck now in her presence on earth;

The vast ages held in trust the yearning of a baby’s heart at birth.

With a sudden jolt, I saw new streams of life come alive at its core;

The rising and falling of the roots and branches crying out for more.

Glossy leaves cushioned huge boughs sweeping down as a curtain;

Hanging low over a lake, green water reflected the leaves softened.

As we stand before the tree, we feel its abiding, intimate caress;

For eons, its rough, familiar presence a revelation does profess.

Against its veined and ragged outer bark, we wish to lay our face,

To wrap our arms around the tree. a friend in its eternal embrace.

To take away what little comfort we can afford from its ancient life,

Like a child, to climb up its outstretched arms to forget any strife.

To be one with the tree becomes as to enter another world of spirit;

The world of sensations, of pains, of edges, disappear with no limit.

Onward, upward, and outward, spreading mercy in every direction;

My heart beat as one with the tree as I stood under her protection.

A sudden brush of wind stirred the tireless limbs, as though lisping,

Like the soft breath of something, of someone, forever whispering.

- - - - - -

(c) John Herlihy 7 October 2018