![Gustave Le Gray (photographer) [French, 1820 - 1884] from the J. Paul Getty Museum](https://exponentii.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/tree.jpg "Poetry Sundays: Short Roots tree")
I’ve loved this poem by Carol Lynn Pearson in particular lately. This past year, I’ve felt so thirsty as I ponder my place in the Church and my own spiritual path.
“Short Roots”
by Carol Lynn Pearson
The tree
At the church next door to me
Turned up its roots and died.
They had tried
To brace its leaning
But it lowered
And lowered,
And then there it lay–
Leaves in grass
And matter roots in air,
Like a loafer on a summer day.
“Look there,”
Said the gardener,
“Short roots–all the growth went up–
Big branches–short roots.”
“How come?” I asked.
“Too much water.
This tree had it too good.
It never had to hunt for drink.”
Especially in thirsty times,
My memory steps outside
And looks at the tree
At the church next door to me
That turned up its roots and died.
The Growing Season. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1976
9 Responses
Thank you for this, Emily. And Carol Lynn.
What a great poem to end last year and start the new year with. It’s a good reminder that these challenges we face as feminists are helping us to form deeper roots. Hopefully our tree will live a long long time.
[…] The Beech Tree by Gustave Le Gray (photographer) [French, 1820 – 1884] from the J. Paul Getty Museum 2014 was …read more […]
Thanks for sharing this, Emily. It holds a lot of meaning and inspiration for me, too.
What a great poem. Thanks for sharing. It gives me hope that we will continue to survive … in the midst of these hard, difficult conversations. The body of Christ will hold. We’ll make our way. And grow deep searching for living water … to fill our souls.
You are a dear, Emily.
Emily, this poem is a perfect response to 2014. How to respond to the hurt of the past year, or any kind of hurt? Grow those deep roots that can always access living water.
Thank you. I am thirsty too, and seeking those deep roots.
[…] B. Wells, 1870-1920, Carol Cornwall Madsen This is my attempt to answer the kind of thirst Emily CC (and Carol Lynn Pearson) wrote about, to seek for the water, and develop deep […]
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