At the December 3, 2016 Art of Poetry event, Beth King is photographed reading her poem inspired by Pat Viles’s painting. Photo courtesy of Roger and Ginny Sanford.

Beth King
THE SENTINEL TREE
after “The Sentinel” by Pat Viles

Sentinel-Tree:
Long May You Stand High–
On this Rock Outcropping–
Mountain-Stones,
Stones That Grew into these Singing Peaks;
A Guardian of the Nearby Harbor,
An Inland Sea Surround by Land.

Sentinel-Tree:
You Know More than all the Other Trees,
Here, Your Safe and Small, Harbor Neighborhood.
You are their Strength, their Protection—
Against Storms Silent and Tortuous;
Like an Emotion that Never Was;
Like a Feeling that Never Arrived.

Sentinel-Tree:
Be the Tree of All the Trees,
In Your Sweet Neighborhood Harbor,
Guard the Dreams Creative of this Watery Place.
Let Her Live by Day in the Love of Her Life-Giving Originality,
Let her Sleep By Night in the Peace of Her Life-saving Imagination.