One Poem by Gifford Savage

 

Shemen Zayit
(tree of oil)

The story says Jonah wept when the plant died,
as the desert sun beat upon his head.
I weep today for the olive trees.

The oldest olive tree in the world
is four thousand years young.
Nine million olive trees grow in Palestine.
Eight hundred thousand have been destroyed.
Each one has a story to tell.
Age-old symbol of reconciliation.
Athena’s generous gift,
rich with the anointing oil of blessing,
rare, abundant, precious –
overflowing
          from the head,
                      to the beard,
                              to the collar of the robes –
now spilled upon the sand.
Dove-borne harbinger of hope,
bearer of peace.
Broken, bombed, blasted, burned.
But don’t you know if an olive tree is cut down
it will grow again from the roots?

God said to Jonah –
You wept for the plant,
why then are you angry at me
when I weep for the people?

Gifford Savage escaped from the Civil Service and now spends his time shouting at the news on television and shaking his head in bewilderment at social media. He writes poetry because he has to and never fails to be surprised that his poems have appeared in a number of journals including ‘The Bangor Literary Journal,’ ‘The Storms,’ ‘Agape Review’ and ‘The New Verse News.’ He was included in the CAP anthology ‘Across the Threshold,’ has performed his poetry on local television station ‘Northern Visions TV’ and was winner of the Aspects Festival Poetry Slam 2022.