: What kind of metaphor is "trees in the wind"? What kind of metaphor is "trees in the wind"? I saw God in the Forest Teachin' Tai Chi To the trees in the wind Bowing

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More explicitly stated, the metaphor is that the trees move to and fro in the wind because God (using the wind) is teaching them Tai Chi.

The imagery is the trees of the forest moving in unison like we see a group of people in the park move in unison when being led in a Tai Chi class. God is the instructor leading the trees.

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It's Personification.

While it is a type of metaphor, this is called personification. The intent here is simply to describe the random movement of the tree branches with a sense of purpose. Although "God" is mentioned as the teacher, the poem is not describing something holy or religious, rather the slow, intentional martial arts motions of Tai Chi.

From the link:

Personification is not merely a decorative device, but serves the
purpose of giving deeper meanings to literary texts. It adds vividness
to expressions, as we always look at the world from a human
perspective. Writers and poets rely on personification to bring
inanimate things to life, so that their nature and actions are
understood in a better way. Because it is easier for us to relate to
something that is human, or which possesses human traits...

"Trees in the wind" specifically is not a metaphor, it's just a figure of speech or an idiom.

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