tree house

Three london planes stand in front,
Magnificent large trees all of them.
Ours to admire while we live here,
They shelter us under their shade.

A glorious tall ginko rises on the side,
Higher than any I’ve seen before.
And a huge silver maple arches over
The pin oak behind our back deck.

We have a perimeter of living wood
Around us, trees that are centurions.
We walk the ground beneath not rooted,
Casually coming and going like fallen leaves.

I imagine this dwelling as a tree house.
Up on the third floor perched under the canopy
The view looks out through the branches
And I pretend I am a bird sitting here.

undercliff picnic area palisades shore trail

suddenly september

Suddenly September signals summer is over.
The cool breeze blows in after the hurricane passed out to sea,
The throbbing life of the migrating flocks now gone from the empty sky.
The quiet woodlands abandoned but for the silent grazing deer.

It is a time of sadness for me.
Soon the trees will flash their magnificent last hurrah
Fading from brilliant to brown litter on the forest floor.
Now we live out the last days of the season.

The Autumnal Equinox draws near.
It is Jewish Rosh Hashanah today.
The year begins at the end of summer like the day begins at sunset.
It is Muslim end of Ramadan Eid day of peace in two days on 9/11.

The Fundamentalist Christians will be burning the Koran, how despicable!
The Tea Party bigots will be railing against a mosque near Ground Zero,
The way they incite violence against Muslims and all immigrants.
And we will be in the streets in defense of their rights.

The natural world knows nothing of politics
Except when the result is climate change or pollution,
Loss of habitat or invasive species spread by humans.
When the day is over, the sun will be one day lower in the sky.

Good-bye glorious proliferation of life!
Let the contraction enfold everything in its arms
Drawing in whatever could not or has not fled south
Shutting down, going dormant, burrowing to hibernate.

Happily the insects will be gone. And somehow
There are birds that flit about through the winter freeze.
And ice and snow have their magical qualities.
And the spring thaw melting will be so wonderful.

made in honduras