My Branching Path

I see a four-limbed Mama
doing a headstand.
Am I staring upwards?
Or are these giant roots.

She has been waiting for me.
At last I am ready for her.
I hear a resident Kiskadee
praising the great tree.

I gaze up at her altar
and lift my prayers to beauty.
I feel a nest, upside down,
sheltering me.

Latticework, a mosaic
made by branches’ weave.
Through green lace
streams a waterfall of blessings.

This old Ciruela tree,
seems made of many neighborhoods
I am new to her township–
How she welcomes me.

So this is what I came for,
to be held in a hammock
by a giant Ciruela tree!
I view my branching path.

The sun on the western horizon
lights the hundreds of  plums
from underneath,
transforming the tree and me.

Grateful to have arrived
in this suspended moment,
I am awed to be at the start
of a grand arboreal affair.

            ©Susa Silvermarie 2023