leonia sassafras

ginkgo

There’s a living fossil in my front yard
A tree unlike any other that grows today
A tree found in the fossil record with the ferns
Before flowering plants 270 million years ago.

It has been more than two million years now
Since any relative of this tree lived on the earth.
The leaves are unique fan shaped radiating veins
And today their yellow litter covers my lawn.

The leaves sprout in alternating clusters
With male or female parts at the base
From branches that grow in segments
So different from any other tree you’ve seen.

Those branches break in the wind at the joints
Giving me a yard cleanup chore after every storm
As if to twist around the usual survival maxim:
Better to break off don’t bend.

This tree is now a cultivar that people keep alive,
Favored planting for Asian temples
Some trees more than 1,000 years old
A living form to contemplate in awe.

There were six gingko trees that survived Hiroshima
When everything else was killed close in
Between 1,000 to 2,000 yards from the blast.
Since then this tree is called the bearer of hope.

As I watch the rain of leaves drifting down
From this individual tree much older than me
From this species much older than any human forebears
I think what a gift it is to be aware of the big picture.

commuter morning

ramapo lake wanaque overlook