Like A Tree copyright 1976 by Tracy Marks When I reach out to you constantly, without grounding myself in my own self-sufficiency or self-respect, you become necessary to my survival. I feel like a weak sapling, top-heavy with new growth, needing props to stay erect. But when I withdraw and turn entirely to myself for sustenance, I become quite stunted, a branchless trunk without leaves or fruit, shunning human contact, in fear of being cut down and chopped into tinderwood. I much prefer to be a tree of wide and interlacing branches, firmly rooted in the ground, receiving nourishment from the sunlight, the air and the soil, from you, my friends and myself, and giving nourishment by bearing fruit.

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