there's one tranquil
maple out there,
or a single
placid pine,
that doesn't epitomize—
with the top
of its gently borne
emerald crown
distracting
beatifically
from the doggedness
of its fiercest, most
primeval root—
exactly
what people like me
might mean
when we say: it's not easy
to look, outwardly,
fine all the time.
