Sapling Again

You caught my eye while passing through
a crossroads, underneath the shade
of broken pine yet holding fast 
through ages rising straight and staid

The sacred place has drawn me many
times when seeking clearer ways
of finding truths that whisper far
from now and call toward later days

Long shadow lingers, sunlight hides
too high above to nurture, still
you stretch your tender, awkward limbs
as if to dream is to fulfill 

Chastened wonder pricks my skin
like supple needles breathing in
a noontime promise: passions freed
to spring from unseen hope again