S5:E8 – A Tale of Two Trees: Heidi White, “Two Trees, One Cross”

A Tale of Two Trees: Heidi White, "Two Trees, One Cross" by Matthew Clark | One Thousand Words https://www.matthewclark.net/mcwordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/OTW_S5-E8-ToTT-essays_HeidiWhite.mp3 Heidi White, M.A., is a teacher, editor, podcaster, and author. She teaches Humanities at St. Hild School in Colorado Springs. She is the Managing Editor of FORMA Journal and a contributing author, speaker, and consultant at the CiRCE Institute. She is a weekly contributor on fiction, poetry, and Shakespeare on the Close Reads Podcast Network and the CiRCE Institute Podcast Network. She serves on the Board of Directors of The Anselm Society and sits on the Academic Advisory Board for the Classical Learning Test. She writes fiction, poetry, and essays, and she speaks and writes about literature, education, and the Christian imagination. She lives in Black Forest, Colorado with her husband and children. She also hosts The Daily Poem Podcast  A Tale of Two Trees by Matthew Clark   I dreamed I saw two family trees  They grew from very different seeds  One stood tall with flowered crowns And one was bent and bitter    The bitter tree bore sour fruit  That made the people eating do  Wickedness upon the earth  Until they grew to love it    The flowered tree put out its leaves  Which perfumed faintly that bitter breeze  The bent tree’s branches shook like snakes  And did their best to kill it    But up the sweetness rose again  Like children rise from water cleansed and  Though the thorns tore at their flesh  They would not stop their singing Well ages came and ages went  And it seemed the good tree’s strength was spent  While the bitter tree kept sprouting strong  And choking out its fragrance   Till one day evil’s wicked limbs  Entangled all the hopes of men  And struck that holy heartwood down  And felled the mighty timber    The crooked fingers of that tree  Took hold of earth and made it bleed  And most forgot what goodness was  Or where to go to find it    And holiness decayed to dust  The spinning world gave way to lust  And justice cracked like splintered wood  The world lay in confusion    BRIDGE A tree is known by the fruit it bears  And every day we plant ourselves In one of two families  In one of these two family trees   But no one saw the twist to come  The prophets of the stump of God  Were killed like fools and all ignored  But underneath the soil    A tender Word beneath the roots  Uncurled until a little shoot Unfurled into the poisoned air  To raise the ancient family    To stir the dormant seed of faith  And water withered hearts awake  To die upon that bitter tree  And uproot it forever    And one day soon we’ll see his face David’s branch will clear away  The stubble where the wicked grew  And Jesus will make all things new ©2023 Matthew Clark, Path in the Pines Music (ASCAP) The post S5:E8 – A Tale of Two Trees: Heidi White, “Two Trees, One Cross” appeared first on Matthew Clark.