“Roots” by Julianne Woodroof

Sam Hamstra | May 12, 2010

Trinity Christian College student, Julianne Woodroof, recently wrote a poem entitled "Roots." She read it during Living  Hope's May 16 gathering. You may listen to is by clicking here, and you may also read it: 

 

 

she is

beautiful branches dripping with glossy leaves

boasting blooming flowers

bowed low with the weight of her beauty

 

serene and still, glowing softly in morning springtime sun

 

no hint of the rot that lies beneath,

creeping even now up the trunk of this so praised tree

but it comes

silently stealing the sweet water that would nourish those frail roots

all while slyly, oh so cunningly praising the outward beauty

product of a hidden brokenness

 

and her neighbors? they flock to see the display!

utterly in awe of such charming little buds and delicate fragrance

secretly wishing to be so lovely

hoping against hope that none will know of the rot that lies within their bones

wishing to be so true as this one divine wonder

never wilting, ever budding

forgetting what it is to thrive in the unending pursuit of what is perceived

 

the graceful, lovely tree begins to droop under the weight of her own exhaustive pretense

she feels the ache within, but

none can know. she sees they do not struggle

ever fruitful never fading always in season with their song

 

no. She must hide. She must be grafted into one of those stronger ones

Her own root, which has gone deep with pride and earnestness,

has no grip on the soil which might have brought life

But as she bows lower and lower still, appearing to be graceful but so dry her branches groan and snap

 

she sees

 

roots

 

thick, gnarly roots of tall pines and oaks are intertwined

those trees that she has always despised

how could they thrive? standing so tall and ordinary,

unchanging with the times,

wearing scars that show their age and the storms that have shaped them?

 

could it be that they are more alive than she?

 

and from this low place, bent nearly upside down, dizzy with the weight of her own pride

she sees

 

roots

the mass of them, stretching across a whole forest

strengthening the grove

patiently

lovingly

together nourishing one another by sharing in their weight

for this network of roots does require something of its members,

a vulnerability that exposes the weariness and age within

the struggle and scar and fear and ache of life lived in a not-yet world

but these groans for a new kingdom are sung together

 

and

 

so it comes

by these roots

waving wildly in the upside-down hope of a new reality

 

where none need hide

and grace breathes life

 

 

 

 

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