Far from home on assignments I often walk early and stand
before trees, ponder the fullness
of crowns lifted as if in praise
and alive with unseen choirs –
ee-oh-lay of wood thrush, shrill
of wren, whistle of oriole, baritone
hoot of owl – melodies of joy in a
world of mutual fate. Eight decades gone now and I remain
that boy who climbed the thorny
mesquite tree to honor its presence
before hurrying for a higher climb
in our pear tree, where I imagined
adventures, watched sisters come
and go, spied on passing cars, picked
low hanging fruit and bit into the unwashed truth of nature.

Dallas Lee, a retired journalist/speechwriter, is author of The Cotton Patch Evidence (Harper & Row), which documents events leading to the founding of Habitat for Humanity, and a self-published book of poetry, No Kind of Blues (Archway). He is a Texas native, a graduate of Baylor University, and lives in Charlotte NC with his wife, Mary Carol.