Resurrection

Resurrection

Easter. The grave clothes of winter
are still here, but the sepulcher
is empty. A messenger
From the tomb tells us
How a stone has been rolled
from the mind, and a tree lightens
the darkness with its blossom.
There are travelers upon the roads
who have heard music blown
From a bare bough, and a child
tells us how the accident
of last year, a machine stranded
beside the way for lack
of petrol is covered with flowers.

- R. S. Thomas

The part of this poem I chose to illustrate was "a tree lightens the darkness with its blossom" as I thought it would be easy to find a tree with blossom. But it seems that summer comes early in Texas! It's already starting to feel uncomfortably hot at times and all the early spring blossoms have long since disappeared.

So I took a walk to the "Famous and Historic Tree Grove" in the city of Euless - a unique tree planting project which serves as a living classroom where people can experience a part of American history. The only tree that was still in bloom was this Independence Hall Black Locust. The "parent" of this tree still grows majestically at the entrance to the Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was drafted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1776

I guess this may have been how the early "fathers" of this land saw themselves - as bringing light to a dark world with the blossom of freedom. Sadly it is not really all that free in many senses today!