Water bears 
the weight of ice. The petal withstands 
the sway of the honeybee.
The branch bears 
the weight of the nest, 
and even the tree trunk 
yields to the blade of the axe 
and then resurfaces—
to do what love must do:
Bear, believe, hope and endure—
enlarging the capacity 
to embrace, setting down 
tree rings like tracks—
the living bark the antidote 
to injury.

Within the tree,
rings enclose 
and transform injury 
to possibility.