Nature is a Metaphor

I.

Nature is
    a metaphor
        of the inner life

thoughtplay of mind
    in leaves of oak
        spinning down the stream

Wagner, Holst
    in seastorm
        fury

autumn lake garbed
    in self-reflection
        of morning mist

but we are the trees
    or contain tree-nature
        as it contains us

sunlight passed from
    leaf to root
        of the same plant

so why
    need
        metaphor?

thought strains
    connections
        threatens

ownership
    through poem
        we appreciate

the tide, the flower
    rework the clay
        to bolder form

until relation dims
    and we cry for
        the amorphous mass

that which we pulled
    from earth        that which
        we are

and will surely
        return.
 
 

II.

We recognize
    the reverse image
        in unadorned wood

heart born neither
    cold nor impassioned
        it is our choice

to see it differently
    or not at all
        - pine grain

swells when immersed
    releasing acid pitch
        as does the poem

when embroiled in
    heat of relations
        - the eye

mirrors itself
    and needs
        solidity of stone

    to pivot meaning
        back to ourselves

                                                                - bruce g marcot

Notes:  I penned the background image of lichens dripping off alders among sword ferns, from a place called Fern Canyon in coastal Humboldt County, northern California.

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