Treebeard - by Andrew Clark

This poem was first featured in The Appalachian Review. I hope you dig it.

Treebeard

It now appears that certain trees lower and raise their branches, not only at nightfall or sunrise, but also with shorter periods, such as two hours. It’s as if they have an internal heartbeat.

--The Scientific and Medical Network Journal, 2018.

busy as we are

we feel your longing

when you walk by

hands held out

fingering

our

bark

busy as we are

feeding fallen sisters and

brothers lying at our feet

feeding beneath the earth

raising branches skyward

lowering again to

earth each night

busy as we are

you swore we moved

& so we did

in the dark

living moving singing things

Fangorn in Sindarin

baritone tree hearts

thrumming along the trail

wrap your arms around

vibrations that feed

your own heart

put your head

against the bast

as if against

some great beast

whose heat rises

from the loaming.