Naked Trees

Naked Trees Fall becomes Winter Naked Trees fill the yard with decaying brown leaves Hanging on to a few who refuse to leave the safety of their branches Leaves of beautiful Spring shades of green to summer dark Change in fall to breathtaking colors of red and orange Nothing rhymes with orange Tree skeletons cover the mountain A skyline of grays protesting cold winds from the north I hear them screech and groan twisting breaking and falling Protecting their life blood sap sent deep down into roots See their forest curtain of winter grays broken By pines holding a promised return of green The Lenape say Oak and Maple were not always winter bare They bragged of their choices of three wonderful leafy colored clothes Living green for Spring changing to new leaves of Summer dark Fall clothes so colorful and bright with never a winter shed Made cruel fun of lowly hemlock spruce and pines With boring sharp green needles never changed Our Creator Kishelëmienk Made a place on Earth for every tree So sad to hear cruel taunts toward pines from trees with leaves Using their pride in leafy clothes changes to hurt other trees There must be something to end that pain now “They will hear what I have to say” “In Fall of four seasons when the sun has tired and moved to the south Trees who bragged will have their beautiful colored leaves fade and blow away Naked trees they will remain till Spring with trunk and limbs so bare Pine Hemlock and Spruce will always be Our beautiful evergreens”