Winter’s on break this pleasant spring-like day
casually clad in a blue-gray sky
I feel his breathing in very light breeze
I see it in rhythmic movement in trees
And the trees bid me draw near by and by
More than through motion they wish to convey
Deeply rooted and bending with the wind
some have lived a millennium or more
Roots are their hands to neighbors extended
Beneath the surface nutrients are shared
More to a forest than seen from its floor
Community with no apparent end
Don’t want my feelings this day nearly spent
to fade when winter’s heavy coat is donned
I’ll take walks in forests far, far away
and ponder what the trees wish to convey
There I’ll sit on soft earth with hands upturned
in stillness to feel that rhythmic movement
David E. Radford is a retired college professor who loves gardening and the great outdoors. Creative writing has been a welcome change from the technical writing his career demanded.