The Leaning of Trees

Today it is calm, but the trees still lean,
their trunks surrendered to the coastal winds,

their leaning something you notice less close-up
than at a distance

when their shadows cut across the sky
in dark relief.

This is you, more damaged than you appear
by the storms in your own life,

yet stubborn, your roots dug in,
determined to leave behind

a lasting landscape.

About this poem

I am more stubborn than I appear. Just ask the things that have done their best to break me.

Tom