I wish that I had been a Tree

I wish that I had been a tree
With branches reaching for the sky
And budding leaves every April
And roots that drink from dark places no human could ever reach.
I wish I had been a thing of awe and wonder
A redwood leaping starward
A weeping willow upon which nightingale sit and ponder
An oak with nuts for squirrels in hungry winters.
I long for the stability of a back that sways in the wind but does not break
For fingers that stretch to greet the birds
For feet that play among the worms and moles and generations of mycelium.
I yearn to be a part of something greater than myself
Not just a lone sapling, nay a forest!
A green sentinel amongst my kin
Keeping a solemn watch upon the world
From heights that make my human eyes water.
I would fear not the axe
Nor the storm
Nor the fires upon the breeze
For my lineage would be unbroken.
I would know not of bombs
Or Capitalism
Or the sorrow of human frailty
Human futility.
My lungs would expand with the seasons
My heart would beat with the Earth
My limbs would spread to greet the Sun upon its passage, and wave to the Moon in its zenith.
And my laughter would overpower hurricanes and mock earthquakes.
I would be
So
Beautiful
So
Free
And
All of this wouldn't matter to me so much
So horribly, terribly, longingly much
If I had been a tree.