Thursday, 14 January 2010
Trees in December
By Shirley Karnes
The leaves are gone,
bare trees stand like a vast army of skeletons.
Where just days ago they were enclosed in billowing pillows of
green and golden hues,
now we see the bony structures
reaching for escaping sunshine.
A cold wind blows through the massed figures.
Smaller branches cannot withstand the powerful force
and fall, returning to their earthly beginnings.
Snow will come to decorate the denuded branches,
weighing them down.
A few will succumb to the burden
and join their fallen comrades.
The winter season will soon come into full bloom,
thence into its preordained yearly cycle.
The army stands at attention,
awaiting further orders.
[INVITATION: All elders, 50 and older, are welcome to submit stories for this blog. They can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, memoir, etc. Instructions for submitting are here.]
Posted by Ronni Bennett at 02:30 AM | Permalink | Email this post
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Nice images. I like seeing the bones of a tree. They are pieces of sculpture.
Posted by: Madonna Christensen | Thursday, 14 January 2010 at 05:10 AM
I also find beauty in the bony structure of trees. However, I cannot help but wonder if nature got something backwards by removing the leaves rather than adding them in winter as we add layer upon layer to our bony or not so bony structures.
Posted by: Claire Jean | Thursday, 14 January 2010 at 06:52 AM
I so loved Trees in December, by Shirley Karnes. She was able to express what I had been feeling during this otherwise somewhat bleak time. Thank you for providing her with a well deserved voice.
Posted by: Norma Shore | Thursday, 14 January 2010 at 09:05 AM
Much as I love the leafy trees of summer, I am fonder still of bare branches--there is such a wide variety of shapes and patterns. Shirley captured that so well.
Posted by: Lyn Burnstine | Thursday, 14 January 2010 at 02:46 PM
Each season has its own beauty. The change of season always seems to arrive just in time to prevent boredom. Kudos to the author - my mother - who has discovered in the process of writing a new and exciting "season" of her own.
Posted by: Susan Karnes Hecht | Thursday, 14 January 2010 at 06:28 PM