Standing and striving are also acts of valor.

Silhouettes

Against the sky
the trees in winter stand;
dark and austere;
reaching always upward.

In the lovely morning light
I have seen red
and orange and purple spread
behind them like a canvas.

And I have seen them,
in late afternoons,
when blue pours from the heavens
in hues impossible to describe.

In moonlight and starlight,
through cold and lonely winds,
I have seen them
waiting patiently for the dawn.

Rooted firmly as the trees,
valiantly I also stand and strive
like them for light and warmth
from far beyond this transient little world.

Next poem: The Watcher

Author: Jerry Dan Deutschendorf
from: Red Earth Whisperings
Part I: Nature and the Nature of Things