Journey

I Should Cut Down this Old Crabapple Tree

I should cut down this old crabapple tree.

Lightning seared it years ago,

Then heavy snow broke it almost in two.

I trimmed and culled to no avail.

Now it sits hunched in the yard

An ugly, stunted gnome of a tree,

Dead twigs and stumps of old wounds

Poking strange and ragged from the green.

I should cut down this old crabapple tree.

But last time I grunted into work boots

And limped on aching knees to fetch the saw,

I stood squinting up into its branches,

My one good eye shaded by this hand

Suddenly more old than middle aged,

Breathing hard through the gap in my teeth

Where the dentist had recently culled,

Then stumped back and put away the saw.

I should cut down this old crabapple tree.

~ Robert Jeager

Bob is a longtime friend residing in Englewood, Colorado and devotee of Mehr Baba. Earthy and deeply spiritual, Bob is a prized mentor and brother in the world of words.

It seems that my continuing journey turns more and more inward as I scale the ramparts of my latter years. Is it because the current state of my physique is becoming increasingly restrictive as creeping old age seems to extract the youthful energy that was, at one time, a ready resource upon which my impulsive nature could draw? Now, I find it more pleasurable to sit in my easy chair read and ruminate rather than putting my hand to the plough or hike the precipitous inclines of the Western Rockies surrounding my chosen home.

I hail from a family of farmers and cowboys who settled the northern high plains and eastern forests of Texas. They are a “gitter done” collection of characters the likes of which I have become more and more appreciative as I have watched them confront the numerous hurdles that life has laid before them. Energy, readiness and resoursefulness have never been comodies in short supply among my kin nor in my own youthful years.

Today, however, I prefer to reflect and write.

Pilgrim Cafe

Continuing Conversations on the Human Spirit

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The Inner Journey

Pilgrim Cafe

Continuing Conversations on the Human Spirit

Tag

Journey

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The Inner Journey

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