Whippinghand, a critique of your poem.
Far be it from me to tread on your artistic licence. But if you want to use the analogy of lineage and trees, then you may reconsider comparing it to the branches and find better success comparing it to the root system.
Mother nature, in her infinite wisdom, has developed only two types of root systems to support a tree: The single taproot or a lack thereof.
Depending on the species and, to some extent, the soil conditions where a tree grows, a tree will sprout a single large taproot very deep into the soil. This is the root which supports the tree and prevents it from toppling over. If a tree does not send out a taproot, it must rely on its network of hundreds, if not thousands, of coarse roots (for water) and feeder roots (for nutrients) to pull double duty and also give resistance to the other forces of nature attempting to topple a tree.
Which one is better? Both and neither. Mother nature adapts to the conditions at hand - believe it or not, that’s Ving Tsun at it’s purest. The tallest (though not the strongest) trees, the sequoias, do not typically grow a taproot. But, even these trees will begin to sprout one if nurtured in soil conditions which are favorable to taproot development.
Neither rooting system will stop a chainsaw, though. For that, mother nature uses an altogether different adaptation mechanism: friends or a lack thereof (extinction).
Lineage is what supports you in your effort - whether you have one strong one or, alternatively, many, many smaller ones (more is always better in this case - healthy ones, anyway). Either way, you still have to play your part and learn how to draw strength from it - hence the Hao Kuit of each ancestor plus an important Hao Kuit often overlooked: “If you don’t train hard now when you are very young, when you get older you will have nothing.”
… Hmm … to head off a silly tangent, “very young” means your training age, not your physical age.
