New poem

In Memoriam

 

Last week four of my pine trees

had to be taken down.
One of them was alive,
but had a dangerous flaw.

I wish I could write a poem

about four dangerous trees
that grew so close to the house
they had to be cut down.

Instead, I will write about
the three live pines remaining:
each of them has covered the ground
around it with shed cones.

Maybe they knew that I

felt foolish mourning for trees,
and dropped their seeds for empathy,
and for the only memorial
they knew how to dedicate.

By JRC 09/06/15