by Corie Preston
SITTING CEDAR
My favorite Hostess
is an Eastern Red Cedar Tree,
who stands near my home,
with strength and magnificence.
Towering over her sisters,
her trunk is now more gray than red,
and her blue-green needles are soft with age.
She offers her branches to the whitetails and cottontails,
shelter and nourishment for a harsh winter day.
She creates beautiful berries of blue,
which she shares generously with the waxwings, warblers, and robins,
a bitter but life-saving meal.
But what I love the most
is how she bears kind and unflinching witness;
to my heartaches and tears,
to my wonder and awe,
as I sit on the ground
and watch Death passing over.
CORIE PRESTON
A lifelong lover of words and nature, Corie Preston enjoys spending her free time wondering and wandering in the woods. Corie is a school psychologist and a story worker trained in Narrative Focused Trauma Care. She lives in her very own Wildwood Haven with her two faithful dogs, one intrepid cat, and three amusing chickens.
Corie is thankful for those who have encouraged her to write and to live life fully: her three beautiful daughters and her son-in-law, her beloved God Squad, her fellow NFTC sojourners, the otter family downriver, the bears who share her blackberries, Mildred and Monty (her favorite pair of mourning doves), and the many other creatures great and small who roam around her home.
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