An evergreen tree of the southeast United States
With long needles and resinous wood
Looms fifty feet so precariously
Aiming a woody seed-bearing cone where I stood.
Deflecting attention from an idle thought
To the prickly brown arrival at my feet
The lingering, nostalgic desire to waste away—
Stopped as its acquaintance I did meet.
“Popular to pine away, Confidant.”
“American individualism?”
A nature stands amongst the woulds,
“Ayes”, to community met with skepticism.
Tall ecology colonies, viscid Puritans,
ALL congregated for social good
Whose seed scale pops civil covenants, born,
Unity Image in support of neighborhood.
Hope abounds in quiet places
Steps nestled in phenomena—the material world
The trees and I shared understanding of the friendship flag all Americans could unfurl.
Lovely!