tell all the stories
of their lives
at once,
wrapped up
in the elaborate
braids of bark,
the decoration
and the scars
that mark their armor.
They've grown thick scabs
across disasters
and calamities.
how they've sacrificed
for light, the places where
the body twists.
And still,
with all this,
they keep on wanting green.
And still, they lift
their wide arthritic arms
to save the birds,
to give the wind its voice.
-- Deb Cooper