Rain has returned! It helps cool things a bit. Rather than near 100 degrees, we are closer to 90. Afternoon showers make for cooler morning walks, mid-70’s, Ah! With rain comes resurrection fern. It grows on oak trees and after a good soaking, emerges as a deep green shaggy blanket on the branches of the trees. This oak I passed on my walk greeted me with a heart. Use this photo as a muse for your writing today. Leave a small poem in the comments. Encourage other writers with comments. Thanks for stopping by.
From a sleepy, dry bed,
Margaret Simon, draft
fluffy green feathers
emerge
surrounding your open
heart…
Resurrection!
Reflections on the Teche 
love is a tree heart
beating green on summer days
holding sun always
Such a sweet “Love is” poem, holding sun!
Linda, “beating green,” “holding sun” makes a fresh, vivid metaphor.
“holding sun” – beatiful!
Gorgeous haiku, Linda – a true metaphor in every lyrical line. Holding sun always – like hope, like love – all that is light.
Tree, where a branch was pruned,
A heart grew.
I consider my own pruning
As your shade cools me and
My heart meets yours.
Jane Heitman Healy, draft
“my heart meets yours” is my favorite line. I love the idea of a heart growing from something that can be harsh, like pruning.
A letter to the tree where “my heart meets yours.” Sweet!
Wonderful use of “pruned.” Hearts meeting is also beautiful.
I. too, wondered about the reason for the heart – is it a scar? Your lines about considering one’s own pruning and hearts meeting – in gratitude – are so powerful.
Margaret, I love learning about the flora and fauna of your region, so different from mine. This photo and poem offer a hopeful metaphor for life.
agree!
Margaret, this photo is just beautiful. Thank you for sharing it. I remember other posts of yours about the resurrection fern – nice to see it again!
the old oak
loves
a good soak
welcomes
a blanket of fern
offers
a heart in return
this is lovely, Rose! Gifts of nature, indeed
I like how you used one word verbs to connect thoughts here, loves, welcomes, and offers. Yes!
Nice! Love the rhyme.
Lovely lines and rhymes, Rose! They are so true.
I love the photo so much, Margaret, and the resurrection fern. I love your lines about open heart and resurrection. I had fun imagining how the heart came to be on the tree…
In the forest
stands a tree
bearing a heart
for all to see
how is it so
how can it be
this symbol of love
here on this tree?
When it was young
perhaps it was scarred
some long-ago night
black sky starred
when a bolt of lightning
struck young lovers
here pledging their troth
forsaking all others…
Some things, it seems,
are not meant to be
star-crossed lovers
found dead by the tree
their initials not carved
but their love still marked
by this bounced-lightning
scar in the bark
where life comes anew
with every rain, in turn
see, within the tree-heart
a resurrection fern
took root, where it dies
in the heart of the tree
yet like hope, like love,
returns alive, eternally.
A fine ballad, Fran! I love the story and the rhyme.
[…] with thanks to Margaret Simon for her photo, inspiring “This Photo Wants to Be a Poem” at Reflections on the Teche. […]