Holding out the branch to me

Planted her for me to see

Connection to roots of old

Bound by blood ties he told

Of knowledge, peace and victory

This beautiful bounteous tree

Dedicated to Athena the Wise

Crowned over virgin guise

Hard core and bitter flesh

Just like memories I thresh

An eternal evergreen first track

Turns time and is bruised black

Golden source of the Old World

It sings to me of tragedies unfurled

Yet supplicants my feelings at odds

As it’s a gift of nature from the Gods

© Image and Poem: T. Altman 2017