No burns,
\nno foul.
\nPain isn’t
\na cutoff
\nit is
\na lesson
\nof
\nanother err,
\nof Experience’s
\nmentorship
\nthough the
\ngnarled figure
\nbefore me
\nis too bent
\nnear genderless
\nto age.
\nMore so tree
\nthan human,
\nthe rootpiece
\nhe leans upon
\nresembling
\nan extension
\nof his timeworn
\nSelf.
\nHe is training
\nme for his seat,
\nhis eyes are bright
\nwith laughter and love
\nwhich sometimes
\nconfuses
\nme.
\nAs the harsh bite of wind
\nchills me,
\nI find the
\ncrisp cold air
\nhard to breathe
\nand it is unpleasant.
\nHe chides
\nin his customary
\nsingsong manner
\nof speech:<\/p>\n
I should not feel
\nthe cold
\n I should not feel
\nthe
\nwind,
\nI say first,
\nbut one should always look,
\nhe responds.<\/p>\n
He chuckles,
\nclearing the air.<\/p>\n
He goes no further,
\nstopping to admire
\nthe snow
\nthat slowly kills us
\nforming on a branch
\nlistening to the patter
\nof softly falling needles
\narranged in patterns
\nfrom the apex.
\nI can see vague shapes,
\ndueling creatures,
\nskittering along the upper
\nbranches
\nplaying or fighting
\nI can’t tell
\nand, ultimately,
\nit doesn’t matter.<\/p>\n
He looks at me,
\nas if studying
\n my thoughts,<\/p>\n
I know,
\n young one,
\nvery well
\nyour state
\n of mind,
\nso similar to mine
\nwhen I stood
\nwhere you stand,
\nso long ago-<\/p>\n
don’t laugh,
\n even I was
\n a child
\n on the cusp
\n of imagination’s
\n magnificence
\n at one time.<\/p>\n
I was young.<\/p>\n
he looked wistfully
\nat a passing cloud
\nand smiled.<\/p>\n
I was taught
\nto appreciate
\nthe beauty,<\/p>\n
he only says
\nthis once.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
No burns, no foul. Pain isn’t a cutoff it is a lesson of another err, of Experience’s mentorship though the gnarled figure before me is too bent near genderless to age. More so tree than human, the rootpiece he leans upon resembling an extension of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3535"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3543,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3535\/revisions\/3543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}