When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Acts 2:1-4
Tree questions
How far does a tree see?
Far enough to see Florence?
Close enough to see the woodpecker
just before clawing its skin?
Or is it blind like a grub
and feels its way through the day,
as clouds unveil or cover the sun
the wind disorienting it?
What can the tree's idea of the sun be?
Is a tree one or, like its leaves, many?
With each fallen leaf, is self
subtracted?
Do its branches feel gravity differently?
Are its flowers numb to it?
Did the tree see the man with his sketchbook
and smelled him?
Did it, in its pollen way, make love to him?
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from The Loving Question, December 2024