TWO SQUIRRELS IN A HICKORY TREE

 

        A second-story window elevates both eyes

to upper leaf clusters;

makes visible the motion of leaves,

that move out of harmony

with the tree’s foliage sheath, 

that uniformly sways in the wind

or stands still in tranquil air;

transfixes focus on what is different from the rest;

raises questions about tree sprigs

that jerk in fits and starts,

sudden, sweeping twists of a single twig,

discordant flutters of a second twig,

without any bird flight near the tree

          until there is a pause in the shaking branches.

 

Two eastern gray squirrels

descend the tree trunk headfirst

before the fall’s hickory nutmeats,

grown in light brown shells and green husks,

weight down branches and fall to the ground,

the boughs reach out for the sun

without stirring the air.

 

Motionless again,

the tree breathes in and out

as if in deep meditation

or in the eye of a storm.

 

 

©cmheuer, 2021