Recent exploration of Sequoia National Park left behind a line or two about the beauty of Sequoias, captured along with the latest Centennial Poster and photos from backpacking among the trees:
Behold, the mighty Sequoia
What secrets do you covet
beneath the weathered bark of your skin
3 feet thick, your outer shell aged
3,000 years you have towered here
How many hands touched you
How many eyes assessed you
Measured you up, calculated your worth
Silently you stared down
All the songs in your branches swayed
8 feet long each they held homes for many
The largest we hear, the smallest we wonder
You resist the many foes of the world
Flame, fungus and pest do not fell you
Only the hands that wander
And even they, they now caress you
Who walked beneath your canopy
Rested their back upon your soul
Did they take something away
Or maybe they left, a scratch or dent upon you
Light filters through your slender form
Our thoughts are speckles on light
They float fragile among your might
Too young we are, tiny in your presence
Behold, the sleeping Sequoia
So you seem to us
But there is a truth we do not know
The words you say, we cannot hear
