Seasonal Life Among the Branches of a Copper Beech
Ode to a favorite tree
All year long, the tree turns. Not like a wheel, but by showing us the circle of life. The seasons are easy to recognize when you observe a tree.
There is an enormous copper beech outside my window I see as a friend. Not as strange as you might, at first, think because it’s visible throughout the day. What, or who, you encounter most often affects you. They influence the way you think and feel.
The beech tree, so resplendent in a crown of cinnamon much of the year, is bare-branched come December. Its beauty currently stems from how it shelters many wild birds and animals. I watch squirrels scamper along it and note a pair of crows who nested earlier and have made a family. They fly back and forth to rest on the branches.
Here’s my winter poem to the copper beech, since it does such a splendid job.
The Copper Cradle
In spring,
tight buds whisper with copper treasures,
yet to unfold.
By summer those blossoms open to the sun,
and life blooms among the branches with chirps and dashes.
In winter,
the cradle sheds what’s no longer valuable to hold,
recognizing old gems will soon be dust.
Come nightfall,
though, it gives shelter under a wide canopy of stars.
