The Cypress Trees out Back

 

They stand tall and spare

Branches at the top all by themselves

Like leafy crowns

Bearing the responsibility without

The retinue,

Royal reinforcements

 

The tree that was squat and enormous

Is gone

Blown apart by wind and rain

And all weather-fury

 

Tell me how the slender cypress

Still rise from the earth

When the broader, low-to-ground

Was taken

I don’t know, but I think

Maybe the taller trees were

Much, much better at bending

Without breaking

 

C L Couch

 

 

Kevmin – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7571467

A branch of fossilized Glyptostrobus species needles. Eocene, 49.5 myo; Klondike Mountain Formation, Republic, Washington, USA. Stonerose Interpretive Center specimen # [sic]