Roots and Other Tendrils

 Like a forest of entitlement
Beside a bottomless lake
Privileged roots
Flourish with little effort
While the blight of drought
 Forever threatens
Down stream survival

 Still

Man's tenacious nature
This network of rebirthing
Retaining its innocence within
Can survive the shallow tributaries
Nourishing the precious growth atop
Expanding its open arms
Time's branches
Gleaning sustainment from
Sun's strength of warmth
Moonlight's cooling solitude

 Such is the humble tree of life
Ever allowing storms and gales
To drench its naked branches
Providing needed flexing and saturation
To quench another day's thirst
Another day's survival

Might it be...

 Just as the common man's seedlings
Require deference
So too must consciousness
Remain alert
Knowing invisible tendrils of arid encroachment
Forever creep quietly
 Across oblivious landscapes
Creating further reflective lakes
To mirror self-serving appetites

But just as glaciers
Can surround and insulate reward
So too lurks its avalanche
Awaiting the loud-enough echo of arrogance
to release its wrath

Lest we forget
Saplings remain innocent
Until they are not