This past week, my friend Stewart Kauffman celebrated his 90th birthday. Though our backgrounds and roots are quite different, we share a common bond of music and of theology. I wrote this poem in honor of our friendship. Happy Birthday, Stew.
The Oak and the Maple
Maples in yellow, oaks in red, quite a show!
The wind whistles low through the forest so bare.
The oak and the maple, a neighborly pair,
Swaying and bowing, their branches to touch;
Alone in the forest and winter's firm clutch.
Deep in the bark a cell breaks the mold.
A new hint of life begins to take hold.
The bud is now forming and soon it will swell.
It follows the path of the old leaf that fell.
The maple leaf dropped in the autumn of gold,
But oak leaves hold tight 'til spring breaks their hold.
They both will remain on the cool forest floor,
Where rains will decay them, and woodlands restore.
A warm April sun calls the leaves to expand,
And the maple leaf takes on the shape of a hand.
But the oak has a symmetry much like the tree;
Its edges are rounded like waves on the sea.
But now summer's waning and autumn is near,
A hoar frost soon glistens in moonlight so clear.
The forest is blazing, with colors aglow,
The maples in yellow, oaks in red, quite a show!
Year after year they both stand in their places;
In Autumn God smiles at their bright shining faces.
Each season their roots will in friendship entwine,
In communion to share nature's bread and its wine.
