By Ron Faust

A colorful tree, a Regal Petticoat Maple
   Shows its yellow leaves waving in the sky
   And red, magenta, salmon underneath
   Particularly in the Fall downsizing

Soon everything will be bare until Spring
   When Bird of Paradise buds will appear
   Announcing the recycling of surprises
   Reminding us our connection to nature

From seasonal changes we become trees
   Losing our mobility, rooted in fixed places
   Showing wrinkles on the surface of arms
   Seeing our crown adorned by leafy earrings

We know where to find the trees we love
   Spreading arms around them in big hugs
   Someday the trees will leave us, cut up,
   In ashes, disconnected, yet waving back.

9/22/21 (On occasion of planting a tree near the sound of chainsaws and delighting in the quiver of leaves in the treetops.) Ron notes in a Sept. 27 e-mail, “This week is critical for changing cultural shifts important to our future. It’s like planting a tree.”

Copyright 2021, Ron Faust, Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International License.