Tree Prayers

In the Spring

My heart bursts for the trees,

For their unbridled optimism

The bouncing exuberance of

Their baby buds.

Into the arches of the tree’s awnings,

My prayers float,

Settling on the sprouting leaves,

Dipped buttery green

And the branches that hold them.

All winter, stoic and braving

But now, heart swelling

As they sway to the lullaby

Of an easier breeze.

I swoop up with a nesting bird’s vantage

And from the crown, I look down

To discover that I am diminished

By the sheer scope of the spreading roots

That realm below my feet.

Still, I can see

How the sturdy limbs bend and beckon

How they tuck me beneath their canopy.

I worry for the trees

But they worry more,

For me.