Spring Appraisal

Aspirations
Of freedom are a choice
Far harder than staying shackled,
Sawing off your own arms
To reach that source of raw stability
From each branched effort

Homegrown
Shoots regrew, while you
Were too busy greening to notice,
Your rings multiplied while your
Support reached further in gentle
extensions, more fledglings nestled

Fermenting
In your boughs, more squirrels
brought playful antics beneath your shelter,
more flowers rose up around you
simply because you remembered
how to care for varietals

Realizations
Blew over you that night
When the quiet in the wood was so loud
That sleep that wouldn’t find you,
Fitfully attached to those in your care
Because you weren’t finished —

You had created your own village