While I was dozing
the seedling I planted
grew forty feet
and threatens my roof
in the wind.
My children went
from “mama”
to middle aged
with children
of their own—
marriages,
mortgages,
money worries,
and hair starting to gray
at the roots.
While I was dozing
my friends became
old and arthritic
with artificial hips
and knees that sound
like the tin man in the rain
Memory faded,
they talk of medical miracles
and how they’ve outlived
their physicians.
But my tree is magnificent
shading half a city block
with its wingspan.
Did I ever tell you
I planted it
as a seedling
and that it
grew to a thing
of wonder
while I dozed?
Steve Deutsch is widely published both online and in print. Twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, his Chapbook, Perhaps You Can was published in 2019 by Kelsay Press. His full-length book, Persistence of Memory was published in 2020 by Kelsay. Steve’s third book, Going, Going, Gone, will be published this winter.
