Montane Persistence

Enduring the seasons
 light passes into dark
 submitting to winter elongation
 comfort of long nights

 Under blankets of crystals
 roots in rain soaked peat
 encouraged by vernal radiation
 seeking growth in the light

 Survival in the exposure
 winds fed by Atlantic rage
 rains like hell from heavens
 twisted existence resolute 

Insignificant beside the trail
 that leads curious minds
 to seek meaning from 
 megalithic constructions

 Each limb a monument
 a testament of contortion
 hardened with determined
 will of a natural survivor 

 Through the dark wood
 life grows concentric 
 emerging in leafy greens
 celebrating with blooms 

 Montane life of persistence 
 demure beauty 
 twisted by reality 
 survival the life sentence .

Ciaran Burke