Trees

My mother
who is eighty-eight years old
watched the news of the Asian tsunami
with amazement.
Everything was flattened
or swept away,
she said,
except the trees.
Why did the trees
remain standing?
I thought:
Their roots are deep.
For years they have withstood
the buffeting of the elements,
the battering of the storms.
They have provided
shelter and support,
bending but unbroken,
bearing the scars of hardship
And still standing.
Like you.

Ann Sanguin