Another page in my new tree manga features a poem by my sister, a talented wordsmith. It has become not only my favorite of her poems, but one of my very favorite poems period.

Here is the text in a more readable form:

A Good Life

Does a tree broken by lightning in its prime

bewail its fate?

Does it mourn that it had no chance

to grow taller, broaden its base,

and live out all its lichen-covered days?

No, it falls with majestic assurance

and solidity of intent,

gracefully inverting its upward career.

It rests peacefully,

branches lightly touching the earth,

saying softly to the ground from which it grew,

"Did you see the way I danced with the stars?"

Marian Kelly