by Julia Griffin

“Daniel Bain loves exploring Barcelona, but one sight has left a lasting impression—a sturdy oak that pops up in the middle of a staircase. ‘I like to think that this tree sat down on these stairs to create a piece of shade for the future and stayed,’ he says.”
—The Guardian

A tree sat down upon a stair:
A sturdy oak. The place was bare,
But firm and flat; the sort that suits
A plant prepared to rest its roots.
From six steps up, this oak surveyed
The future, with its need for shade,
Felt touched, and settled, even though
It could not laterally grow.
In times of baseness and disease,
Let’s celebrate this best of trees,
Extending deftly, deep and high,
From Barcelona to the sky:
A refuge when the mind despairs;
An earthly heaven-tree of stairs.