Ode to the Tree across the Street
It locks itself in my eyes
as I sit at the kitchen table.
Branches stretch with the strength
a human strives for. The tree
lets the elements take care
of its well being. It follows
by instinct the Tao which I try
to convince myself to accept--
learn from the tree to bend
with the intrusive changes of wind
and stand straight on a calm day.
I smile to see the branches joining
with those of another tree over the fence
and want to believe they are protecting
each other. They become one
under their whelming summer green
surpassing the roofs of the houses
that disappear beneath them.
I smile as my arms, like the limbs
of the tree, lock with another’s
under the canopy of our faith in each other.
Janet Krauss, after retirement from teaching 39 years of English at Fairfield University, continues to mentor students, lead a poetry discussion at the Wilton Library, participate in a CT. Poetry Society Workshop, and one other plus two poetry groups. She co-leads the Poetry Program of the Black Rock Art Guild. She has two books of poetry: Borrowed Scenery (Yuganta Press) and Through the Trees of Autumn (Spartina Press). Many of her poems have been published in Amethyst Review, and her haiku in Cold Moon Journal.
Amethyst Review 