
The Magnolia (or, Loveliness)

Your wide leaves were your ruff
Your plate-sized, milky blooms your crowning glory
Your branches tall and far-reaching
Years of work and determination and splendor on display
Until they came
with their saws and ropes and boots and thick blue jeans
Climbing your core
Tearing you—quite literally—limb from limb
Returning to your shocked frame after an initial trim
to finish the job.
You remain there, naked and violated
A fraction of what you once were
But see...
The undulating curve of your twin trunks
gently winding toward sky
Stubs of branches pointing their way toward future
Soft gray lichen dappling your dark skin—
a canvas of monochrome
previously hidden by old glory
revealed now in its own.
Rest. Breathe.
Recover.
Find the life still hidden inside you.
Be healed, friend.