Travel, Law and Life Considered

Trees

Keyvan Tabari

Copyright Keyvan Tabari 2021. All Rights Reserved.

 

Absalom, Absalom!

I called the tree I see at breakfast,

First thing in the morning.

Arms raised.

Defiant response to Heavens, I thought,

Twisted as Faulkner’s fate.

It’s only mulberry disrobed, I would learn.

 

The old planted trees

Lining the block facing the Temelec House

Are ablaze in new yellow leaves.

I ask their name from a neighbor.

I don’t know, she says, maybe ash?

Another neighbor says no, acacia.

The Plant Identifier App finds it: camphor.

I find the acacia elsewhere.

 

I sit on the bench at the vineyard

Happy to see a bouquet of new

Green leaves on branch tips of yet another tree

Name unknown.

I look for a landscaping truck for help.

None to be found now but one, far.

On other days they abound.

 

Most trees are still bare.

Mistletoe, some proffer.

And others, plain dead leaves.

The willows fast asleep.

 (February 17, 2021)