Western Red Cedar by Gillian Cornwall, c.2005
Oil Pastel on Paper $900.00
22" x 30"
A naive poem follows. It is meant to carry you to a peaceful place, a remembrance of how it works when we stop and listen to all of life and that we are one, inextricably connected.
The Western Red Cedar
I'm a western red cedar
thuja plicata
green perfect plaits
well-organized leaves
'tree of life'
arbor-vitae
for the next thousand years I will reach for the sky
My limbs droop downward
in peaceful repose
while birds fly and sing
from my tip to my toes
I spread my feet wide
for fear I may fall
though I suppose the fact is
I'll outlive you all
I live in a forest
you may never find
It's a place tucked away
on the outside of time
Far down below me
'mid the moss and the ferns
One day I shall lay there
my death bed I'll earn
As trees came before me
may I feed many more
In the depths of the rich
thick, lush forest floor
Do not forget me
I bring you your air
for the breathe of the forest
Is the life we all share
-Gillian Cornwall, c. May 4, 2014
Cedar by the Lake
Gillian Cornwall, c. 2011
