A Tree Planting Ceremony

I wrote this for a dear friend who planted a Magnolia tree in her backyard in honour of her mother who always loved Magnolias. It was also a place made sacred by the burying of ashes of those she loved and it will, in time, welcome her mother’s ashes as well.

For Marilyn

Nothing living was ever lost
The tides have risen and fallen
And mountains higher than the Himalayas
Became our Laurentians.
So every tree that stands today
Bears the seeds of ten thousand years
The ashes of the fires enrich the soil that nurtures new life
And every molecule that ever was, still is
So this tree and these ashes
Beauty and grief intermingled
Become the home of peace and memory
Tended for the lives remembered
Watered by the tears we shed
Shall spring forth in beauty
Reminding us that life and love are eternal
That the gifts cannot be ungiven
As the seed already knows the tree it will be
And the dying leaf is grateful for the soil it shall become
So may we be joyful bearers of the love that never dies