A fine old Evergreen Oak

When I was a little kid
still filled with wonder and in awe
of how this great world was opening up
and showing me how life would be
shaped by others and in my soul
I knew that I would have little control
of my eventual destiny.

Whatever happened in my life
all the good and the strife
was all a part of a big plan
and not one devised by man
directly controlled in a guiding way
and I would have very little to say
of what it is would happen to me
and what would be my destiny.

So it has been through seventy-seven years
with times of sorrow and some tears
and others of gladness and much mirth
and wondering why this happened and how
will I ever get through this day
how will I find the way
and yet we always manage somehow
and we nearly always come through
maybe not totally unscathed
and maybe we lost something along the way
but alive to fight another day.

I am not a spiritual man
not that I haven’t tried
different religions in my time
with the hope the answers to find
but deep down I have to say
that at the end of the day
except when it is close to my time
and then like others of my kind
will no doubt cry out in fear
as death its icy fingers lay claim
and to be saved and spared for a few more years
and make promises that I can never fulfil
just to remain on this earth a while longer still.

If there is a God, a being Divine
someone who draws the line
who sets the tone of good and bad
and yet has millions of people to care
as with them all is supposed to share
everything that goes on in their lives
right down to the final say
of how they will spend every minute of each day.

I find it hard to believe
that no matter how Supreme a Being there be
to micro manage to the n th degree
is even beyond  their ability
and so when things are going wrong
and we are looking for someone to blame
all that we need to do
is to turn inward for that clue
as we ourselves are the guilty one
for our troubles that time has run.

I wonder why some men think
theirs is the only way of life
and all others are wrong
because they sing a different song
or have different beliefs and a different God.

Why is it that we are
so arrogant with our beliefs
that we know we are always right
even to the extent of a fight
to make the others subdue
so that they see our point of view.

All through the ages men have fought
with others of a different kind
with different beliefs and different Gods
trying hard to convert the lot
into believing what they believe.

History has shown that man did not succeed
as all manner of worship still exists.
Live and let live and more tolerant be
of each other and what is our choice
as the same thing that makes us stand apart
together can bring closer all men who
can work as one and still hold onto
their beliefs, their Gods and their religion too.

The one and only thing I see
that is real and surrounds our every move
is Mother Nature who is visible to all
and though she heeds not the call
of mortals who under her shadow do thrive
and the one thing she does guarantee
is Summer and Spring, Winter and Fall.