15 Year Old Nature Poem: Exodus

EXODUS AT THE LAKE
my exodus offers two paths that diverge
This is my lake, not Thoreau’s Pond
One path hugs the water to Cash Trail
The other that tugs at my heart
Will wander among old Maryland trees
I heard their voices calling to me:
Loblollies, oaks, pines, and hollies
(As if they knew I would have limited time)
Then I spy my favorite in decorated skirts
Smooth-skinned American Beech
Usually the one with more leaves through March
The end of winter, if that, in this hemisphere
Last stalwart leaves on guard, dry now, of course
Hanging … like winter muffs on nude branches
Almost transparent white and dry
As girls decorated in holiday skirts
I welcome their adornments hopefully

Among these tall, stolid witnesses
I think back when they were younger, my girls,
They would follow, wonderingly but trustingly,
Though like youth they wanted to be at the Mall;
I had so many reasons, health besides …
Trees witnessed my inward struggles, shame, love:
Witnesses to all seasons, wise through the years
Like wizards too, they quietly watch me, magically
Comforting me or healing me, most understanding
©Deo, March 27, 2005 (Beltsville, Md. USA)
Copyright © | Year Posted 2020

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