Cypress On The Cliff, Uncompromising.

Lands End

In one of his poems entitled “Point Lobos Outlook”, Jim Powell,

an American modern day poet, had his poetic description of the

Monterey Cypress at Point Lobos on the California Central Coast

that is known to be one of the most beautiful coastlines in the

world:

“Persistent at the brink, the cypresses

lean away backward to receive the winds

prevailing on this spot, balancing

resistance and compensation in the open-weave

basketwork of their limbs:

weight braced facing a single way

against an invisible pressure from ahead

in veering weather and when the air falls quiet

steadfast in the same stance, a posture of defense

by success, then habit,

……………………………………………… “

There is also a place called Point Lobos, which is at the tip of Lands

End, the outermost reach of San Francisco Peninsula. It has been

one of our favorite scenic places to visit since we moved to the Bay

Area three decades ago. It is the grove of cypress trees on its cliff

that has impressed me the most all these years.

Only the past year or so, we have made a total of four trips to this

place with our visitors (classmates or family friends, from out of state

or abroad). During each visit, I particularly drew their attention to

the stern, uncompromising gestures of those cypress trees on the

cliff, “leaning away backward to receive the winds, balancing

resistance and compensation in the open-weave basketwork of their

limbs .................... .”, as nicely depicted by Powell.

Yeh Tze