TREES
Greater gift: from loss comes knowing
Albert, Daddy, we knew trees,
longer standing than us, soft flesh
race of beings cruel and mobile
Albert loved them as the summer
whispering gracious home blown blues
affirmation’s stately beauty
branched stark-angled, snow furred views
Trees: the more for giving children
nature as he never had,
greening of his concrete blood
version of his parents’ land.
Cement flows toward where he stands
“This all to do with puttin’ in new curb”
dodged the ugly same no longer
murder ‘snuck’ across his path.
“They killed it like you kill a person�”
left an eight foot stump, hard to snuff
deep, multilayered limbs of love.
His anger falls unguided into pain.
Trees: the more for giving children
nature, as he had never had
Greater gift: from loss is knowing
Albert, Daddy, gave us trees.
Contributed by Akua Lezli Hope, New York