These Trees

"I stood still and was a tree amid the wood, Knowing the truth of things unseen before;" . . . "Nathless I have been a tree amid the wood And many a new thing understood That was rank folly to my head before." --- from The Tree, by Ezra Pound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Slender, singular, filamentous fir, Yellowing larch -- these trees Do not speak but seem to sleep, Sheltering skinny sheep Handily herded -- full-fleeced In lanolin-laden wool. Sheep do not sleep much. They speak their protest -- (Such ineffective baas) -- To cloning and to closeness. All, doubles of the ovine others, Crowded among brothers, Cowering under silent wood: Dissimilar dark fir; Lone, yellowing Larch.