The Praying Tree and Other Poems

by Alexis Ragan

THE PRAYING TREE

“Ev’n God himself being pressed for my sake” —George Herbert, “The Bunch of Grapes” (1633)

Near the crown of Mt. Rubidoux,  

I see an olive tree, crouched over,

furling on top of the mountain, 

with elbows to weak knees. 

At first glance, a weeping 

man consumed in prayer—

visage of Jesus abandoned 

to the oil press of death. 

When the Lord entered 

empty Gethsemane, He 

expected to be crushed, fell 

face first on blood-drop dust, 

embraced the sour cup

that could not pass from 

Light’s cracked lips—sin’s kiss. 

I descend the hike breathless

and broken, so far from the top, 

wishing I could have stayed 

awake throughout the night 

to climb back up and console 

that grieved, soon-to-be 

crucified tree. But Christ knew

the weight of our eyelids 

would collapse in the quiet

agony of a garden that became

the mourning mat of God, 

crushed olive of love, sealing 

real rest for our nephesh. 

AN EXHORTATION OF SAINTS

When roads in souls run weary, 

lift up this liturgy to fill golden bowls:

God who gardens, pluck out the parts 

in us that only harvest what is dark

and till in us the seed of your Son's

eternity—making room for ripe light. 

I CAME IN TO LISTEN

after Leila Chatti

The fern curls around the 

rented villa, a sabbatical from sound

caught in the riven things of 

revisiting, crisp, breeze quiet. 

My mother and I admire the

fronds, as we imagine a mended sky

layered with younger years on Indigo 

Point, now far removed and steeping

in spices of forbearance deeper

than comfortable; cloisters grow from 

within our solitude, tilling the 

spirit to release beyond rooftop. 

In her kitchen, I hear water boiling like

a stampede, ready for orange rind tea.

ALEXIS RAGAN

Alexis Ragan is a deep-image poet, convinced that arts serve as a powerful window of worship that leads humanity back to God’s heart. As a seasoned ESL specialist, she presently blends her love for creative writing and English as a second language in the collegial atmosphere. She created the literary journal Vessels of Light to live as a virtual lighthouse that inspires writers to generate work that shines for Christ. Alexis has been published in places such as Ekstasis, Calla Press, Alabaster Co., The Way Back to Ourselves, and Christianity Today. She is currently an MFA poet at California State University Long Beach.