Winter Trees
by Paul Zimmer
for Jan Susina
To watch snow sift into woods is to
Feel yourself growing gently toward death,
Yet it is trees that teach us how to live.
In some places a person can exist
For many years without seeing a tree:
That must be the way of anger and despair.
Better to have the constant example
Of their patience and perfection,
To witness the blossoming and decay,
Watch snow resolve itself through branches,
Gathering softly at the nodes and shag.
Better to somehow join them and become
Part of the last stand in the world.
You can find this poem in Poems About Trees.
