Slow Wisdom
SLOW WISDOM
Tap roots take up water now
that last spring’s snow melt sent down
slowly, through and between the stones;
The action of sun and capillary draw up the water
with its burden of minerals and wisdom,
absorbed from the stones, the bones, of Earth;
The tree knows its own impermanence
through the wisdom of the stones,
and savors each season’s sun and storm
in its own slow-watching, sharing with the Earth;
Then come I,
too hurried to understand
that the sap of the tree rushes through its limbs
when seen by the slower seep of the rock’s water,
Or, to realize that my own blood boils through my veins
a brief moment and is gone;
Yet,
Sometimes,
By the grace of the Consciousness that fills all things,
as I sit, leaned against the tree,
Some small bit of the Earth’s wisdom, knowing
that even the stone is only a temporary flicker
in the eye of eternity -
Graces me to know that I am both transient and forever.
William L. Kotila
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Submitted on February 19, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 17 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | X X A B X C A A X C X X X B X X X D X B D B X |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,147 |
Words | 173 |
Stanzas | 23 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 |
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"Slow Wisdom" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/52504/slow-wisdom>.
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