Dear friends. I apologize for the quality of the audio production. It is not up to my standards, and was created hastily, and on poor equipment. I will re-produce it in the future with my higher quality equipment. I am just too busy to do a proper recording, so I included this less formal production temporarily. Thank you for your understanding, and I hope you enjoy this poem. ~ Bryant
The Tree of Life Divides, Illustration by Bryant H. McGill - 2003
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The Tree of Life (2003)
1
The tree of all life divides
The limbs and branches bifurcate,
Yearning growth shall not subside
The will of life will not abate
2
With men and leaves the same
Our family lines divide
Through this freely flowing vein
Life's hope, the young derive
3
The branch from which you grow
Will tell you who is kin,
And all those we truly know,
Are those we call our friends
4
This simple truth of bloodline fire,
No greater gift is known,
Than knowing why our hearts aspire,
To forever cherish our own.
5
Like leaves we live and fall,
On branches we all abound
The graves that catch us all,
Are scattered on the ground
6
We all return to soil,
This fate for both is known
For seeds are grown like souls,
In death new life is sown
7
The ties that bind us taut,
Man's family tree of souls
Are like leaves naturally wrought,
On branches perched on knolls
8
While deep within the roots descend,
Life's intercourse with ground
At each and every sunray's end,
Stirs life, in mysteries bound
9
In this endless cycle of life,
The past is future true
The days follow the starlit nights,
As the sun gives way to the moon
10
The tides slowly ebb and flow,
As mountains rise and fall
Winters warm to summers' glow,
And spring gives birth to all
11
Life's chance is in the center
Between the dark and light,
Outward, it grows, from the inner
As diverging patterns fight
12
The voids define the forms,
And the chaos stirs the order
For all opposing forces burn,
Brightest at their border
13
To each and every living thing
The call of life will enthrall,
From the mysteries, up we spring,
Then to them back we fall
14
The worm awaits its feast
Our master in the ground,
The most becomes the least
Our death to dust is bound
15
Like leaves we have a season,
We pass through life so fast
And no one knows the reason,
That youth and life can't last
16
All life awaits its chance
To grow and plant its seed,
And hope the future grants
Its single greatest need
17
To be a part of life
With roots secured in ground,
While through the bitter strife
New hopes are made or found
18
To reproduce the best
And minimize our faults,
And through our lives attest,
By that which we exalt!
19
To know of things greater
Than the small part we play,
To know what Creator
Produced us from the fray
20
For leaves and men the same
Our time is frail and brief,
Cruelty has not been tamed
Nor fairness worth belief
21
Some leaves wither and die,
Because they grew too low
And others, perched up reaching high,
Shall never peaceful shadows know
22
For growing high, up above
Has many sights unseen,
Like the moist gift to all beloved,
The silky-shaded dues that gleam
23
Some seem like perfect leaves
With broad and beautiful forms,
Yet caught up in a gentle breeze
From life they may be torn
24
Most are average size and form,
While others grow not well
Some were diseased and deformed
And quickly died and fell
25
The cycles of life will pass through
Its purposes will be fulfilled,
And when destiny wants to take you
No matter what — it will
26
Give yourself to this flow
And enjoy the time as you wait,
You may only resist to learn and grow
But you cannot resist your fate
27
For nature is very resourceful
Its mistakes are with pure intent,
It is never at all remorseful
And shall never through force relent
28
So do not fight its mighty plan
Or force will be met with force,
And in this yielding peaceful span
Shall men then know their course
29
Life's truth is so simple,
Its purity is cold and divine,
The skies are our holy temple
Under which we are all entwined
30
We all yearn for knowledge
The light we need to grow,
We must however acknowledge,
Some things, we cannot know
31
Once we accept our Creator's design
Living in joy can then begin,
This is the wisdom eluding mankind
It is our pride, we must transcend
32
Take what life has to offer you
And make it the best you can,
And understand the simple truth
That it is sufficient, to be a man
33
Accept your place in nature
The truth, you will then plainly see,
We're but a melody, in one grand overture
Like the rustling leaves of a tree.
