—Photo by Christopher Woods

Winter Tree
Christopher Woods

This is the sleeping season.
Forget about reaching out
to all of us who walk beneath you,
who hover in your shade,
who look to you and remember
what it is like to merely be.

This is the dreaming season.
Don't awaken yet.
Spring and sun will stir you
soon enough.
For now, remain naked,
remind us what we were like
in infancy, in innocence,
before we looked to trees
for the solace we cannot feel
on our own, among our own kind.

CP

Christopher Woods has published a prose collection, UNDER A RIVERBED SKY, and a book of monologues for actors. His photographs are forthcoming in ANDERBO, PUBLIC REPUBLIC, BAP QUARTERLY and NARRATIVE MAGAZINE and can be seen online at THE TEXANA REVIEW GALLERY.