On gazing up – a poem by David Hanlon

On gazing up

Let ego fade into foliage seas
into
burnt orange…….fringed clouds sailing above

Restlessness…………downward spiral…..pirouetting leaves
from Oak trees……….they stand insistent………they encircle

a way of life
hardship testing character

Testing your skin……..peeled plum
bark scratch

Leaves pull apart at their veins

We only glide………on the eagle-span wings of essence
dodge surface………structured artifice

Troubles are meddling mounds….unsteady footing
stand stagnant………..you are a stable Oak

focus through the lens of lucidity
a gift as abundant as trees themselves

Look

down
your feet……….resilience-entwined roots

up at the breadth of your branch-made shelter

inside your earthy heart…….revel in your majestic stature

Gaze up at your canopy

let ego
fade into foliage
seas
into burnt orange fringed
clouds sailing above

Now step.

David Hanlon is a confessional poet from Wales, living in Bristol, England. He is a qualified counsellor/therapist. He is a Best of the Net nominee, and you can find his work online in Into The Void, Barren Magazine, Mojave Heart Review, Kissing Dynamite and Homology Lit, among others. His first chapbook is forthcoming in Spring 2020 with Animal Heart Press.