spoke out-loud my longing;
please let me see--
then sharpened my eyes to observe
below the cloaked surface,

a thing so undervalued captured my attention
take, for instance, the average forest tree
stretching up of many, uncounted - able to touch
the blue sky, taken for granted by familiar eyes,
but I saw it there in its rooted place,
unique-- that one,

it's true, just one of many & I hugged it,
deserving an honor far larger
than its neglected function, I fixated
& examined its rough bark, its dead branch--
articulating a legend of lightning untold,
I took it in, the odor
knotty bold & aged-earth-

sapient from the severe
changes of Northeastern Ohio,
a lonesome sugar Maple tree, untapped -
carved with yarns & tales most cannot learn
because they've never taken the time
--just to be-- to be--
at the root-level tutelage of a tree