To the Banyan Sapling: A Child in the Cradle

I looked at you in tender love -
A tender shoot rising up from the ground,
Your new leaves radiant in the morning sun,
Freshly washed by the raindrops around.

A Banyan doesn't grow in a day, they say -
Challenging Mother Earth to give it her all
To raise this colossus of the forest green
That, for aeons to come, shall be standing tall.

A veritable king holding forests together
With majestic roots - above and below the ground,
The mighty trunk - nurturing and shelterimg
Every life-form all around.

I look at you again in over-awed silence -
Envisioning the great future that has begun!
The tremendous potential of that tender shoot
Its new leaves radiant in the morning sun.