Red Cedar

This skinny cedar tree

One among many in a row

Standing like silent sentinels

Of a new order

With a rough and woody face

Standing much taller than me

Around its trunk my arms embrace

Anchored tightly against the breeze

And yet see how it sways and bends

In whatever direction of the shifting winds

And earthward under heaven's authority bows

As some invisible arbitrary power blows

The capricious winds decide

The fate of those who below reside

Of who shall thrive

And who shall wither

And who shall live

And who will pass