Limber Pines

Limber Pines by Everwild Collective

Backstory: “A tree that is unbending is easily broken. The flexible and yielding survive.”  (Tao Te Ching) This song was written for Eric's dad who has cancer and yet, through it all, has been a lot like those limber pines growing in local Wasatch mountain range. The Limber Pines and White Bark Pines are native Wasatch trees that make it through the fierce winds at the tops of the range because of their flexibility and resilience. This song is about the kind of resilience that grows slowly, through time, through storms, and through choosing to stay open. 

Lyrics:

Deep within the canyons

Where rivers bend and wind

Stand fir and spruce and juniper

In forests thick and wide

But high above the canyon walls

Where rugged ridges shine

The mountain whispers through the wind

The secret of the limber pine

Up where soil turns to stone

And clouds begin to roam

Where storms can sweep the ridge lines bare

And few things make a home

No mighty tree could linger long

Where lightning scars the sky

Just time-worn trees against the clouds

These are the limber pines

Limber pines don't fight the wind

They learn which way to lean

They flex and bend through every storm

Yet hold their needles green

A rigid trunk would split in two

Or roots would lose their ground

The ones who dance with mountains wild

Are still the ones around

Some trees grow in city glades

Standing proud and towering

But life above the timberline

Shapes a different kind of tree

Where roots hold fast in shattered rock

And branches bend but stay

Sometimes the strength that saves your soul

Is learning how to sway

The limber pines don't mind the wind

They let the wild lead

They dance with what the mountain gives

And take just what they need

No need to stop the rushing wind

Or chase what isn't mine

Just stand with roots in patient stone

And sway like limber pines

Some truths are carved in rocky cliffs

Some written in the snow

But some are learned from wise old trees

That grow where the winds blow

I've known some folks like those wise trees

Who face the winds of years

Their kindness stays through raging storms

Their smiles stay through tears

They don't stand stiff when softness calls

The gentler truths they find

Their wisdom grows in open hearts

Like those old limber pines

So when the winds of life rise up

And harder days unwind

I'll remember what the mountain said

Through those old limber pines