I am changing now
the congregation of years
not age so much as
a ripening view
and I
have started speaking to trees
one big gum
surely hundreds of decades
I stop and look hard
where peeling bark
reveals cambium whorls
like human fingerprints
and multiples of tiny crawling things
are not concerned
I say
thank you, Grandfather
for holding up this part
of the sky
for the shade and shelter
and after we kill them
we count the rings
marvel at what
must have been
cut me
and you’ll see
rings and deep bruises
imagine what put them there
but until
the long night comes
I am like that gum
hold up
my part of the sky
give shade and shelter
to those who come by
