A Remembrance

Beneath towers of living wood we stood amazed
That living wood that climbed forever upwards.
"Not so many matchsticks," you said, "if it
came to that." I was stunned for a moment.

I understood, though. This was your paradise
and you didn't believe that those exist.
I understood what you needed. But in that
moment it cut so deeply, through flesh and bone

And into cardial tissue, that cork that we
surround. And the flesh has healed, but I know
the cut is still with me. It makes strong my trunk.
When we were trees we could be still.