Defences.
Why do they stubbornly stand to be blasted ?
Too early knarled,
painfully bent yet bravely alive.
their ironised knuckles
bear marks of much struggle to stay upright..
How do they do it I ask ?
Fine webs of under-ground lace hold fast
tightly on rock\'s granite face.
Fragile white rootlings mock weak
yielding to looming tempest
for their death-tight, strong-as-steel
cling to outright success
means seedlings plant stouter feet
in deep-dug unseen defences.
Underneath fortress of meant defiance
beats storm\'s power, a trunk
that withstands external battering
knows life is not easy on top, force rocks
fibre but if rooted enough inside
self, a torn limb revives.
As the ways of a highland sapling tree,
So shall the traits of wise people be.