A blog I follow posted the following stunning pictures of moss growing on a tree. The pictures inspired me to write the following poem.

https://withmyheadintheheavens.wordpress.com/2016/10/01/brushstrokes-of-nature

https://withmyheadintheheavens.wordpress.com/2016/09/30/moss-clings-to-bark-creating-new-life/

new life crawls over the old
 masking the scars of the past
 choke, mask, regenerate?
 do we discard progress
so not to mask the past
 is harmony possible?

 
the new need not choke history
like moss
let the new enrich
beautifying the scars of our past travails
old and new
a symbiotic relationship
survival is dependent on the other
 

let the past benefit from the new
without causing harm
both have the ability to harm
the path of balance needs to be learnt
past, present and the way ahead
the way of the cleaning symbiosis
discarding the excess

© 2016 Michael D Emmerich