The Tree
Memory believes before knowing remembers.
– William Faulkner, Light in August
Grassy earth bulges above.
Branches stretch away,
twig and fade in leaves.
dim with the other side
of light lapping underneath,
then all forever to fall.
He tastes the salt,
feels the heat sliding
up his back, gritty
bark runging curled knees.
The sun, unseen, throbs
at the center of things.
Face flushed with gravity
of blood, he senses again
in voices ringing up-
side down, outside in,
the presence like a breathing
closer than his own.
Shade tightens in a dome.
He scrunches
to that first curious pose
then flings himself swinging
like a bell’s pounding tongue
and calls out to the only
one he cares to show –
“Hey, Mo-o-o-o-om!”
Through the dark glint
of her glasses she smiles,
then shouts from sunlight,
“I see you, I see you!”
Then the child’s spine shivers
in wonder, terror, joy,
as though separate threads
silver, gold, black –
the void from self to soul –
were now woven into one.
John Savoie
Thx for sharing
i yelll….and i dont get an answer
Like u..my mom died…
hmmm
yes remembering the most important person in our lives
Enjoy ur weekend
adn visit aain oke????
God bless u
Hello Jorge:
my mother is neither here already… but I always remember her… I need her and I would like to say her: mom,look at me.. I do it well… and that she smile me as she did when I was a little girl
Hugs and a nice weekend for you
When I was six and my brother Dwight was 11 he scaled a huge fir tree that stood as sentinal beside the log cabin we lived in. As he swayed in the top clinging with one hand and two legs, calling from what sounded a huge distance, "Mom, Mom!" I stood looking up at him astounded to see him there so far up in the top of the forest touching the sky as he waved with his free hand. He was a god to his little sister at that moment. Watching him I knew I could never be that brave. He was wonderful. Mama came out of the cabin then and when she looked up she screamed. "Dwight get down from there this instant!" She fled inside and buried her face in a pillow until my hero walked in several minutes later. Man was he in trouble!
Thanks for the memory,
Blessed be
Excellent as always… and when our parents are no longer with us, who then do we yell. hey, Mom, look at me too? I think we stay a bit of a child in that regard… we all like to be recognized…. thanks for an excellent read.. hugs, mtgal
I love this blog. Its so well done. Thanks for the memory. My mom is gone as well as my Dad and felt like a orphane now as a adult at one time. Not for long but it did happen.
I may have to come back this week aread this again.
Bell Well also and stay safe.
Lisa
I like this post. I just recently posted one myself involving a tree and calling out to my mom. It was for help though! lol I was 4 years old and I had followed my pet raccoons up to the top of a very tall tree where they had entangled my hair in the branches. *smile*
-Heidi
I was going to blog on a topic that\’s been on my mind today, and your poem brought it into focus Jorge. Ty. I\’m so glad you had a wonderful day and I wish you many more.
Hey J,
Just stopped in to say "hi", but love the poem. Lost my mother to breast cancer when I was 8. I wonder what kind of person I would be today had she lived another 20 years?
Best Wishes,
Joe
Jorge, Thank you for your visit to the Painting Studio and for your comment. Flying Monkeys was one of my wilder dreams that became a reality and I was most pleased to remain in the background as founder as the space evolved as a place for the betterment through the roving reporters and contributing editors. I was in cyber shock when I learned that the Flying Monkeys Online International New World News was deleted. My real heart did skip a couple of beats and for a moment I was frozen. Sassy and Heidi were quick to re-build the space. Fenix was right there, God bless them all.
We shall see how it evolves.
Faulkner\’s Light In August
Was not on my bookshelf
Or night stand
I only had to reach
the coffee table
without leaving my chair.
The first line and the last.
SITTING BESIDE THE ROAD, WATCHING THE WAGON MOUNT the hill toward her, Lena thinks, \’I have come from Alabama: a fur piece.\’
And the last line,
"\’My,my, A body does get around. Hope we aint been coming from Alabama but two months, and now it\’s already Tennessee.\’ "
In between is a great book.
Thank you, As ever be well. Stephen Craig Rowe
"Memory believes before knowing remembers."
– William Faulkner, Light in August
may be to see Mars set below the distant shores and feel the wonder and oneness of the
ancients, whose lives where shaped by the movements of heavenly bodies across
the face of the sky and not by the movements of hands across a watch face; to be
in a place you have been coming to all your life, the place where your mind
goes when you close your eyes; to have that place close and be able to be there
whenever you want;
is Heaven.^_^
Thank you for a wonderful posting, Jorge; a lot of happy memories are flooding into my mind!
Don\’t tell anyone… I\’ve already decided that one of the first things I will do when I\’ve skinnied down by a few pounds and my stamina is greater is to climb one of the old pines in my back yard. Steve assures me that I\’m not crazy having such a dream.
If I\’m really lucky, he\’ll join me there…
Always,
Marge
(This is in regards to your comment on my blog.)
Jorge: How funny! Yes, I have a bachelor\’s and master\’s degree in sociology from Ohio University. I absolutely LOVE the town of Athens. Sometimes I think I stayed to get my master\’s because I just wanted an excuse to stay in Athens longer! After I graduated I worked in various non-profit agencies as well as some of the local schools. Too bad it is such a depressed, poor, Appalachian area, or I\’d have Victor look for his job there! Anyway, I ended up living there from 1992 until about 2001 (with the exception of July 1999 to July 2000 when I volunteered with Americorps in Albuquerque, New Mexico), and so, depending on when you were there, we may have crossed paths! I spent most of my time in Lindlay Hall, which is right across the street from the school of Journalism! Wouldn\’t that be funny?!
take care,~Nicole
(This is in regards to your comment on my blog.)
Jorge: How funny! Yes, I have a bachelor\’s and master\’s degree in sociology from Ohio University. I absolutely LOVE the town of Athens. Sometimes I think I stayed to get my master\’s because I just wanted an excuse to stay in Athens longer! After I graduated I worked in various non-profit agencies as well as some of the local schools. Too bad it is such a depressed, poor, Appalachian area, or I\’d have Victor look for his job there! Anyway, I ended up living there from 1992 until about 2001 (with the exception of July 1999 to July 2000 when I volunteered with Americorps in Albuquerque, New Mexico), and so, depending on when you were there, we may have crossed paths! I spent most of my time in Lindlay Hall, which is right across the street from the school of Journalism! Wouldn\’t that be funny?!
take care,~Nicole
By the way, I wrote a response to your blog here both in Gelert\’s comment section of his most recent entry, and i also ended up posting it on my all things nicole blog.
Nice post. Childhood, moms, trees… truly magical, huh?!
~Nicole
I like Fenix\’s comment. I too wish (maybe she can?!) my mom could see me now. I know she would be so happy and proud of the person I have become.
~Nicole
(okay, I know that was my 3rd comment!!!)
I think, when Mom refuses to look, we spend the rest of our lives yelling \’Hey look!\’ to everybody else. Either that, or give up entirely. My Mom is kind of here still, but Alzheimer\’s has pretty much ended any response to "Hey Mom!" that makes sense. Thank goodness, I got a lot of good stuff before the shadows fell.
Hi Jorge,
I caught up on my blog reading today and, as usual, yours is delightful. I thought especially of how my mother\’s approval of me gave me confidence and how that has served me well long after she was gone. I thought of how she encouraged my sisters and I to be close and to care for each other and we are still doing that. I thought of how no matter how much a person accomplishes in life, what really matters is the condition of the progeny they leave behind.
Thanks for the memories!
Betty
Hi Jorge – anytime you and your honey want to come to VB, I\’ll sit on the beach with her so you and my hubby can go sailing. He\’s always looking for sailing buds as I\’m the "white-knuckle, making indentions in the wood railing, holding on for dear life" sailor. LOL. He says there\’s no way we can tip, but…
Being fairly quiet and shy, I was not an attention seeker… however, I know many who are 🙂 I like the poem very much.
I loved this poem, as I always do, but I absolutely adored the Faulkner quote. I\’m slowly getting back and have enjoyed my visit back here.