The Green Man

The following poem was read at a meditation session recently.

 

The Green Man 

by Joe Zarantonello

The Green Man built a tree house in the center of my heart,
No one asked him to. He just showed up one day.
He never asked me.  He never called to inquire
about available space.  The Green Man just appeared
one day, swinging and laughing
in a glowing tree of emeralds in the heart of my chest.
I forgot all about him, and then when pain or suffering arises,
I can hear him laughing and swinging from the branches,
and somehow that changes everything.
More and more, I open my heart to the pain
and suffering of the moment, and just breathe it all in.
On the out breath, a green luminosity
vibrates out into the world from every cell in my body.
The green of the newly unfurled leaf on the first day of spring.  

"The Green Man" by Joe Zarantonello from Green Bamboo.  (c) Nirvana Press (2005)