Watchtower Trees

The silk trees stand
Giant lone sentinels, like guardian angels
Silently watching over the African landscape
Each sunrise, each sunset
Hot noonday sun and dark moonless nights
Still they stand

Roots plunge deep deep deep into the soil
Intertwining
Invisible beneath the ground
Like rods of iron they set a foundation
That holds for centuries

Massive trunks soar straight and tall
Reaching up up up
Bark gleams pale in sharp contrast
Against the lush green hills

Limbs open wide at the top
Like giant outstretched arms
Reaching heavenward
In permanent praise to the Creator

Like a watchtower
Carefully guarding the untamed
The wonderful
The wildly beautiful
The treasure
That is Africa.

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