James Davis was a Presbyterian pastor and poet. His funeral was held last Saturday at my church, and his family gave me a copy of his poetry book “Seek the Counsel of Trees.”
The eponymous poem is subtitled “A Song for a Season of Drought.” This caught my attention because of our current damaging dry spell. I realize that a poem is not an editorial, yet Davis’s words are steeped in wisdom.
The poem begins, “When clouds pass over withholding rain … don’t run to your weather app to track the swirls of highs and lows.” Technology brings advancements, yet it can also cause anxiety. The fact remains that there’s nothing I can do to make it rain.
Davis continues, “Earth is a spirit, beautiful and sensuous … She yearns to be wooed.” Such “wooing” takes the form of “soft hands and gentle songs.” Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, Davis counsels lavishing such attention as “Go home and cover your loved ones with wet kisses. Speak tenderly to your neighbors and heap praise on their dogs.” A dog is an excellent creature to praise; perhaps that’s why “dog” is “god” spelled backwards.
I also believe that lavishing attention at home carries over to the way I experience the world. For instance, I recently sat in my doctor’s waiting room for a routine physical. An older woman turned from the checkout desk and exclaimed to the entire room, “Thank you, Jesus, Moses, and everyone else out there who cares!” We looked up from our phones and smiled back at her. Her gratitude fell upon us like a cool rain.
I worry about the lack of rain this season and what it means for the future as we continue to suffer from the effects of climate change. But as the title of his book makes clear, Davis considers trees to be a source of comfort: “They know how to tap the unseen pools and read the wisdom of clouds.” Perhaps such “unseen pools” are deep wells of gratitude that can sustain us in times of drought. Maybe the “wisdom of clouds” is that life is fleeting and in constant flux, and yet there is nevertheless beauty and grace visible to “everyone out there who cares.”
Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of the book with Wipf and Stock Publishers titled This Is the Day: A Year of Observing Unofficial Holidays about Ampersands, Bobbleheads, Buttons, Cousins, Hairball Awareness, Humbugs, Serendipity, Star Wars, Teenagers, Tenderness, Walking to School, Yo-Yos, and More. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina where he is a student of joy.
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