Spirit of the Tree

Spirit of the Tree

The world is alive with tales and legends;

    untrue yet true, for they are a twin;

and if you pass by a tree, stop and listen

    to the spirit that throbs within. - avr

Dr Abe V Rotor

Silhouette images of  a heritage tree, living and dead, respectively.

Call the kapre, dwende, tikbalang

    to scare or just for fun;

the goddess Maria Makiling,

    and Helios, the sun.

I imagine the world without them -

without them around:

Children wouldn't be home before dark;

and dogs at night wouldn't bark?

Why sunflowers always face the sun,

and go to sleep when gone;

trespassers, beware, take the road instead,

unless you hold the Labyrinth's thread;

over the hills and valleys thunder rolls

when angry Thor growls,

and mushrooms spontaneously appear

breaking the ground like spear;

phosphorescence fascinates us,

even after the fire has turned to ash;

look up, they’re but one - fireflies and stars,

fireflies are the missing stars;

holiest the altar of nature unspoiled,

where logging was foiled,

where the kapre lives in big trees,

and scares with a sudden breeze;

paddies sigh, bamboos creak and whisper,

unseen - creatures or not – slither.

The world is alive with tales and legends;

    untrue yet true, for they are a twin;

and if you pass by a tree, stop and listen

    to the spirit that throbs within.~