In Celebration of Seeing Trees

At long last all the trees in Maine are sporting fresh greens, and I have sprouted glasses.  These coinciding events have made me doubly appreciative of each.   See yesterday's post "The Blessing of Sight".

I got carried away and decided to literally focus on trees for today.  I pulled the first rhyming poem from my file of poem parts and finished editing it, and then the second one, non-rhyming, is hot off the press, having just popped out of my brain and plopped out on the page.

So now the two Poet Trees to celebrate Seeing Trees... that would be ME seeing trees, not trees that actually SEE... but you knew that. 

Poplars never stand alone
Where one is there’s another
And if the other’s not a friend
It’ll be a sis or brother.
They shake their green well-spangled arms
When winds begin to shout
They flutter-dance and clap and swing
Till leaves laugh inside out.
A happy lot the poplar is-
So friendly and quite popular
From spreading roots below its trunk
To the upper tippy-topular.

And my second "Seeing Trees" poem today:

I never saw you

this way before

or maybe I have

but it's been so long

that I forgot -

I forgot

how your arms

could reach out

to greet me

how up and down

your rough exterior

valleys were created

for ants and caterpillars

and made harsh lichened wrinkles

that skinned my elbows and knees

I've rediscovered how

shadows play with you

and make you

twinkle and shimmer

I seem to remember

how crisp your leaf edges

could be

I am fascinated at

the perfection in

all your imperfections

elegant

flora of forest

with fantasy

roots housing

woodland fairies

and chattering

chipmunks

providing lofty shelter

for birds and

cupping feathered nests

shading turkeys and deer

that scratch and browse below

while overhead

squirrels make their

way on unnamed roads

and highways

overpasses

without stop signs

or speed limits

I want to see

all the splendor

of your world

If I were younger

I would climb

as I did in years past

to look at the world

surrounded by a leafy frame

but today I sit below

leaning against

the solid
age concealing bark

my head tilted skyward

looking up

at your leafy

kaleidoscope

world

Have a wonderful day!  Hug a tree if you get a chance!