Solace is a rowan tree
Oh rowan, mountain ash,
your smooth, silver bark
transforms
suffering into shine.
Your emerald pinnate leaves
defibrillate
possibilities of flight.
Your flowers, a sex-swirl of unity,
exhale
grace; restore dignity.
Your fruit, bursting
clusters of lifeboat-orange, detonate
stagnation.
Oh rowan, lift us with the wisdom
of your long
-lived years.
Oh rowan,
sweet mountain ash.
.
David Hanlon is a welsh poet living in Cardiff. He is a Best of the Net nominee. You can find his work online in over 40 magazines, including Rust & Moth, Icefloe Press & Mineral Lit Mag. His first chapbook Spectrum of Flight is available for purchase now at Animal Heart Press.