Redwood Trees

A cave was cut into the redwood tree

Sealed with the residue of ash and tar

The blackened bark, the fire-stricken scar

A forest collapsed into poverty

Massive tree trunks laid out on burning ground

Tall evergreens that God nor man could save

The giants cast upon each other’s grave

When no one could hear the ear-splitting sound

Or feel the ground rumble where living roots

Survived, in the deep bedrock of the earth

To rise from ruin, the redwood’s rebirth

As saplings awaken, families of shoots

That cling as one, every circle remains

Held together within this sacred place

Their tender branches locked in an embrace

Turned upward to the sun after it rains.