The Guan in the Family of Trees

Fly away, fly away, passeth through the trees

Perched atop, seeking wind, far as one can see

Head held high, feet firm low, dignified can be

This crested guan in the family of trees

Trees with roots, long as snakes, slither grounds and flee

Each one carrying the earth above the sea

Full of leaves, each one one, like a family

Connected, by the roots, of old ancestry

All under, influence, of guan sipping tea

High above, guardian, and sacredly free

Its coat soft, colourful, well as feathery

Now these leaves, be what may, borne aloft foresee

Their futures, old and new, both sad and jolly

This here tree, nothing else, this is just a tree

Yet abound, reasons known, is like you and me

Travel down one branch to another slowly

Find your aunt, uncle too, cousins, you agree?

Then their aunts, uncles too, one big family

Make your way, across vines, to another tree

Find them more, more and more, to a large degree

Is then not so you see, this forest carefree?

How one and all connect one big family

And above, on top of it the guan can see

Everything, its domain, family of trees

But now let’s not be silly. We can take

this tree and explain it how we want,

but the fact is this tree is just a tree. The 

guan is not God overseeing the forest,

it is a bird. It does not watch to guard

the trees, it watches to search for food.

The tree leaves are not members of a

human family in a family tree. They are

leaves. The roots are not the ancestral

roots of the leaves, they are

roots. We take nature and compound it

with what we know as humans

to reveal some inner truths that do not

corporeally exist. I am cynical because

this guan stole my attention the

moment I entered the forest. It has

watched my every move, and it made

me think that it is, in fact, God, and

the trees are, in fact, families, and

the leaves are, in fact, family members, and

the roots are, in fact, ancestors, and

this forest is, in fact, all of that in the most

literal way I can possibly ever mean.

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