As Below, So Above

These underpinnings, these feelings,

Thoughts, fantasies and dreams

Rooted in the earth and in our bodies

Let's explore and understand

My heaven may be my hell, just brighter

And more forgiving: lustrous leaves,

Fragrant flowers and fabulous fruit

Grounded by my roots and their health

My dark shadows lend their texture

To every moment of my waking hours

Diving into the deep, moist soil of my soul

My tap root strong and solid full of

Colorful threads, winding tight like a baseball

Pushing through the soil like a carrot's plunge 

To the core of my being, to the earth

Filaments running off the tap root

Enjoying their own geographical adventure

Searching for minerals and water, other beings,

Sources that will be scooped up and into

This entire plant and soul

Roots move water and food upwards

Into my tree of life. I need these roots

To function and sometimes fear root rot

Or worse, to be root bound

Roots can be torn apart

By the upper world, the harsh

Aggressiveness of building homes

Water pipes, sewers and concrete

Protecting my roots, I hold the dirt

And my plant sturdy but cannot know

When a tragedy might occur, like a

Tornado, a hurricane, or a storm

Or just an injury for only one

Uprooting my plant and my roots

Forcing me to fall up above the earthen

Floor, I need help, someone or something to 

Replant and repair my roots, to keep me alive

Once restored and healed by human

Animal, plant or divine assistance

New and tender shoots sidle

Out from my fibrous filaments

Connecting to other plants and trees

To other people’s roots down below

We nourish each other underground

(And sometimes, above ground)

Below visual view of our human plantings

Connections like secretive holding hands while 

Kneeling on a church choir pew as a teen

Both erotic and spreading, we each

Wrap ourselves around other roots

Engaging, sometimes endangering and

Sometimes nourishing all of our roots, plants

We cannot survive or thrive

Without these other beings, who whirl

Around our succulent growths 

Bringing us food and drink

As we do them in our attachment

Our interrelatedness

Why, we even need worms in our lives

To keep the soil aerated for our best growth

When thirsty and weak or all alone

In this community underneath this planet's

Ground, we commune and communicate

We share our resources  

Gaining from this interconnection

Developing this hallowed, healthy community

And when we people and other living beings 

Transition to another

Space or time, we may be buried or deteriorate

Underground or our ashes sprinkled

Above the ground, Mother's Nature's

Nest and womb.

As below, so above 

How do we tend to our roots

And also help others grow?