The hurricane took the trees.
\nA footnote to the flood
\nand devastation in Texas,
\nbut here in Ohio was wind,
\nsuch as we\u2019d never seen before.
\nWind so horrific it was tangible
\nto the eyes,
\nlike the voracious stem of a tornado.
\nSo the hurricane had its way
\nand took the two trees
\nshading us in our yard.<\/p>\n
Where the children had their summer pool,
\nand we reclined in our chairs
\nthinking, as life is wont to think,
\nlife never, ever changes.
\nThe trees would always be here.
\nThe children would play
\nand then go,
\nbut bring back their friends,
\nwhile we drained the glass of happiness,
\nand extended our hands thoughtlessly
\nfor more.<\/p>\n
But life always changes,
\nalways opens packages to something else,
\nand the trees were taken,
\ntoppled by the wind,
\nsawed into pieces
\nand put at the curb for people collecting wood.
\nWe retired to our beds
\nto dream and forget,
\nand cry a little.
\nThat too is life.
\nTo go on and not hear
\nthe silent swan songs
\nof the trees that died,
\nafter a day of wind and sawing.<\/p>\n
But that night they opened their souls
\nlike children of the night,
\nnot knowing they were gone.
\nThat their shade would never be cast
\non the lawn again,
\nor keep the sun off our children.
\nPuzzled they looked for each other,
\nsoul siblings,
\nto play and talk,
\nas trees talk and play,
\nbut there was nothing.
\nThen somehow, for a few hours,
\nthey embraced together,
\nand the night turned away.<\/p>\n
Oblivion paused, for there was
\nsome compassion even in oblivion,
\nfor the two trees
\nwho had grown up together,
\nwinter and summer, who
\nwatched stars for thousands
\nof unshaded nights,
\nand they moaned.
\nI could swear,
\nin my sleep I heard them,
\nthen a rustle of leaves,
\nas if their sound was entangled in green.<\/p>\n
Then slowly it dissolved as if it were one,
\nand the sky reached for them
\nin an instant of pity,
\nto put them in another place,
\nanother constellation
\nwhere there was room,
\nand I opened my eyes in the darkness
\nwishing them farewell.
\nGrateful to the sky that I would be able
\nto see them again,
\nthe trees I loved so much
\non the shore of my dream.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The hurricane took the trees. A footnote to the flood and devastation in Texas, but here in Ohio was wind, such as we\u2019d never seen…<\/p>\n