- Linda Marie
The Ginkgo Tree
by Linda Marie

01 August 2020
when the sun sets below
and the planet ascends
a fire falls to embers
as earth flares up again
everyday this horizon of light
shines everywhere on all of us
casting a shadow of prophecy
a virus has come to warn us
“pandemics are optional”
it is not some furry bat or rat
the enemy is right in front as us
natural laws have been broken
the earth hurts from deforestation
toxic water tea leaves and air pollution
from sea to shining sea wild life
habitat destruction invites disease
nature born of its own sovereignty
natural world healing can make amends
restoration begins when we see what grew
under ashes bones relics and ruins
a truth bearer of hope and memory
a golden-leaf maidenhair sapling
amid an atomic bomb obliteration
yet alive new shoots new growth
from a Japanese Ginkgo Tree of Life
the golden-leaf maindenhair tree (Ginkgo biloba)
became known in Japan as the “bearer of hope”
after ginkgo shoots appeared amid the
destruction of the atomic bomb.