Easter Bouquet 2025: The Forest's Gospel, by Tamarah Rockwood

Tamarah Rockwood obtained her degree in Creative Writing and Literature from Harvard University and is the founder and CEO of Bainbridge Island Press. She lives on Bainbridge Island, WA, with her husband and five children. They also love their cat, Yoshi, their bird, Poppy, and their flock of ducks.

The Forest's Gospel

Off the narrow path beyond our bench,

there, unbeknownst to many who pass by,

perch owls upon an immense alder branch

that seems to hold both wind and open sky.

They are not ignorant of what they do,

the barred owls who hunt the nests of spring

that hold together scraps of field from palace to pew,

for silent speckled eggs on night-black wing.

Yet what seems death becomes renewal to

both; it must, or else this rhythmic labor

resurrecting an entombed life before the dew

collects on the rude cradle and wild neighbor.

And, here the forest's gospel, plain to see:

Amid death, stays life's continuity.