<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span class="">The Trees Are Listen</span><span class="">ing</span><br class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The trees are listening,<div class="">as cells listen,</div><div class="">and we,</div><div class=""><div class="">as the earth spins its cycles,</div><div class="">wend our way </div><div class="">through what we don’t understand,</div><div class="">named not by trees,</div><div class="">felt in the rich movement and decay of ourselves.</div><div class="">The trees don’t understand</div><div class="">any more than do we,</div><div class="">for all our words.</div><div class="">Being is.</div><div class="">So much to say.</div><div class="">The trees watch quietly.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">We struggle through history, </div><div class="">brief as a firefly,</div><div class="">blossoming artifacts of aspiration, tools of desperation,</div><div class="">marvelous and astonishing,</div><div class="">in the hereness,</div><div class="">seeking light in the dark, warmth in the cold, </div><div class="">and, most drivenly, </div><div class=""><div class="">knowledge in the mystery,</div><div class="">direction in the wilderness,</div></div><div class=""><div class="">forms of beauty and truth and goodness</div><div class="">crafted in the thin atmosphere of our imaginations,</div></div><div class="">like sand castles </div><div class="">or stairways to heaven, </div><div class="">while the trees grow and die.</div><div class="">Destination a hope</div><div class="">driven by the imperative.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">For all the love and the music,</div><div class="">the deep philosophy,</div><div class="">the tearful elations </div><div class="">of our rapturous hearts,</div><div class="">what can we do but go on,</div><div class="">put thumb to the strings of each day,</div><div class="">forget these lines and do good as best we can,</div><div class="">listen like the trees. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Tim Hicks</div></div><div class=""><div class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div class="" style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;"></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>