(for wailan, on her 24th birthday)
she is
a little spruce tree
fresh every way
herself
like a dawn
when warm winds come
she will move
all her body
in a tremble of light
but today she stands
in magical stillness
she has clasped
all my falling flakes
from the round of her sky
and wished them
into her own
snowtree
through the cold time
she holds me
with evergreen
devotion
she bears up my whiteness
o so light may i press
letting each needle
grow in her own
symmetry
for i am at peace
in her form
after whirling
and faithful to all
her curves
but when warm winds come
we must stir from this trance
she wilt lift living arms
to the sun's dance
i will slide then
in a soft caress
of her brown sides
and my falling will end
somewhere in her roots
may my waters then
bring her strength only
help her hold trim
and evergreen her being
with suns and winds
for o many and many
and happiest years