Vernal Equinox

Today was the offical start of spring, and the Ithaca weather was anything but. A blanket of snow the thickness of my down comforter covered the ground when I awoke, which caused me to utter a few choice words. However, my drive in coincided with Garrison Keillor's voice as he narrated The Writer's Almanac and I shook away my distaste for the weather. Today's poem struck me as most appropriate for this blog.

"Trees" by W. S. Merwin from The Compass Flower.
© Macmillian Publishing Company

Trees

I am looking at trees
they may be one of the things I will miss
most from the earth
though many of the ones I have seen
already I cannot remember
and though I seldom embrace the ones I see
and have never been able to speak
with one
I listen to them tenderly
their names have never touched them
they have stood round my sleep
and when it was forbidden to climb them
they have carried me in their branches



Magical things, Trees.