Trees, Philip Levine

I sneaked out of the house after helping with the dishes.

I made my way to the deepest center of the woods and

climbed a young maple tree and gazed up into the deepening

sky above. I must have dozed off for a few minutes,

because quite suddenly the stars emerged in a blacker sky.

Although I did not know their names—in fact I did not 

even know they had names—I began to address them 

quietly, for I never spoke with "full-throated ease" until

hidden by the cover of darkness.

A soft wind shook the leaves around me.

From my own hands I caught the 

smell of earth and iron.

The Lawrence Tree, 1929, Georgia O'Keeffe