You are the largest redwood tree
in the oldest forest in all the land.
hot and humid and unpredictable the wild may be,
but cool
and calm
you stand.
With a bark too thick to succumb to critique
and roots so deep they crawled to taste the salt of the sea,
you are an anchor of a tree though you may not always see.
and so,
if you ever feel weak,
recall it is by your feet the creatures of the woods come to sleep.
and if you ever feel small,
recall it is to the beacon of your canopy the lost traveller crawled.
and if you ever feel alone,
recall that in all the vast of the earth,
it is your branches the birds choose to call home.
and if you ever feel a shell of the person you once were,
recall your strength is not by how firmly you hold the ground
but by what you made of the winds that tried to tear you down.
This Poem was published in the May 2023 edition of the WSA magazine. Please click here to download.
Read – You Will Find Me in the Fog – A Poem by Olumuyiwa Monjola, Nigeria
