Happy 60th Birthday, Father Tree

There’s a Northern Cardinal playing hot potato 

On the branches outside my window.

I thank him for these moments of serenity.

I think of that walk we took, in the New York woods

Where you showed me how the tree must have fallen

But then continued to grow

Into the trunk of the other —

Their wood

Interwoven.

You spotted the pair

In a forest of brown and sounds and rustling of leaves,

Your eyes honed in on that misshapen tree.

I am kneeling as in prayer,

My arms thrown around your knees,

You stand tall, sturdy, calmly.

“Hold me,” I plead.

When I fall I would be so lucky

To grow into your tree.

This piece was published in Papeachu Review Issue 5, March 2023. Order a copy here.