Trees...soon soon now...

Trees...

...soon soon now the sun

will turn its face southward

leaving you to choose the

colors on your palette...

 

...for months it decided

for months its only choice was green

with all its permutations nuances

soft shadows bright edges

dazzling emerald gentle chartreuse...

 

...but soon soon now you will decide

how much of its fire to take on

how many hues your leaves will sport

before the light wanes...

 

...before their journey their graceful exodus

to those waiting below

with tales to tell of

their own brief roles as facets

in the gem we call autumn...

Trees....even when I am not with you...

Trees

　

...even when I am not with you

I am with you

if only through my window

as you shed your fall attire and wait to don

your winter finery

　

a few of you left recently

decimated by the tree service

saws

　

I sat by watching as they

toppled you sent you crashing to the ground

where you sent shudders through me for

the last time and then

　

someone came to erase what was left

grind away at your soul

at the records of your years

your dust fell

mingled with the soil

and then I went out

to claim you

to scatter as much as I could of you

among my flowers

where you will never be forgotten

at least not by them

　

and now it's as if nothing was

ever there at all

as if you'd never stood there

straining beneath the taller trees that had

the advantage all along but you never gave up

reaching for the sun

ever

　

nor will I

　

ever

https://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Lovejoy/e/B00JJ259DS

Trees...I can tell...

Trees


I can tell when you're having it rough
when your leaves hang limp with thirst
and your bark looks even more wizened
somehow and like me you long for rain
for that moldy smell that rises from
the earth when it first makes contact
and sends dust motes flying in all
directions


                                              and then
I can almost hear you drinking pulling
it all up desperate for your share and
when there isn't enough when the clouds
are stingy with their gifts the sun
merciless how somehow you share so
that there is enough to go around so
that not one of you falters or at least
not for long


                                              before the
sky gives up its goodness again when
it rains for days on end and what you
can't use the ponds and streams store
away in a spirit of collaboration not
seen at the upper levels of existence
in this place where we creatures of a
lesser sort persist in deeming ourselves
enlightened.


https://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Lovejoy/e/B00JJ259DS

Trees...the sun and I...

Trees

the sun and I

have an agreement

he will wash your leaves

in gold

when I most need

reminding

that you are forever there

forever somewhere

along this journey

and I will

sing his praises

with words

inadequate

considering his gift

and how it

sometimes blinds me

as it did

on a lonely country road

just now

where dark glasses

weren't enough

impossible to take

it all in

the afterglow

gold dust

against a

curtain of hills

and blue sky

https://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Lovejoy/e/B00JJ259DS

Trees...you weep today...

Trees

                you weep today
for the passing of a friend
ancient and loyal
it stood

for what might have been
forever
cheered your birth from the soil
sheltered you from wind
and sun
then held you

let go at just the right

time
as you learned to walk
through the pages of our thoughts
and experiences
explored the process
of becoming the
thing that screams
nature
the loudest
as fodder for our poems


Long after this rain
you will weep
for the great space
left open by its passing
the vines that embraced it
lost now along the fence
frightened clinging
wondering what happened
and why they weren't told
of the sentence imposed
on their innocent

https://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Lovejoy/e/B00JJ259DS