Wisdom of the Bristlecone Pine
Sapling of the Bristlecone
Roots clutch the ground
4500 years have gone
And you are still around.
You grew with the pyramids,
Stonehenge, cotton, and bronze
Advancing slow and spirited
Past many dusks and dawns.
Forming dense resinous wood,
Naturally resistant
Heat and drought withstood
Stubbornly persistent.
With determined fortitude
You grow where others wither
At the highest altitude
Where winters are so bitter.
Twisted ancient monument
Magnificent, weathered, and bare
Branches broken and bent,
The scars you proudly wear.
What is your strategy
For outliving all the rest?
“Sweet are the uses of adversity”,
William Shakespeare said it best.
~Elizabeth Nash December 2022
tagged: ancient trees
