A Chat with Methuselah

I’d like to speak
with Methuselah
the Bristlecone Pine Tree.

I’d have to go to
White Mountains, California
where he has been living
for about 5,000 years.

No one will tell me where.

I’d like to find out
what Methuselah
has learned
having lived through
the building of the Pyramids,
the fall of Rome,
World War II.

I’d like to find out
how a narrow strip of living tissue
can connect roots
to a handful of dry branches
for thousands of years.

It must be mental attitude.

Would he say
all you need
is just to settle
below the tree line,
in cool, dry soil
with high winds,
growing slowly,
and there
endure?