The Voice in the Wood
by Niccolette Pavlevsky
The universe speaks to the ancient sequoia and redwoods
Their souls speak to mankind in the whispering of forest
Decades of wisdom and enlightment from the sun
rest now on the sandy beaches
Driftwood comes to be found by a young artist
She hears their silent song, the whispering voices
The lines of growth reveal the hard and the good seasons
Sea waves of emotion tossed and cured the wood from rot
Twisted and grooved, broken and dashed upon life's rocks
She sees potential, beauty, refinement, and rebirth
The chain that frees the form binds her to the piece
Charging around its blade the cutting creates
The redwood the color of old blood powders into saw dust
And swirls around her rusty hair in the breeze
The form comes from the wood itself, the story it tells her
The beauty of mankind, the soul of an animal from sea or land
She only helps the wood be heard in forms we can understand
It is the being-ness that matters, the soul of joy is in the creation
Life is in the wisdom of experience, the creation of beauty,
The finding of the precious in the broken pieces