Arboreal Inquiry

There is hope for a tree. For though you lop its branches And fell its mighty trunk, Expose it to the elements And mutilate its stump— Yet at the scent of water, At the soaking of the rain, From its root will thrust a shoot— It springs to life again. Hope there is for ruined tree; But is there hope, O Lord, for me? “He’s like a tree by river close That never withers comatose, But fruits and blossoms day by day; That prospers now, and will, for aye.” Hope there is for shattered tree, And hope abides in battered me.