Rain beads along the clover
Moss climbs the broken brick
A blackbird worries the hedge
Roots drink where no one looks
Warm sap climbs
Beetles sleep beneath the bark
A nest bends low with morning
Wet soil gathers around the stone
Then metal enters
Not deep enough to kill
Deep enough to stay
I grow around it
I grow around it
Ring after ring
Wood closes over iron
Green folds across the wound
Another spring
Another leaf
Another nest above the mark
The iron stays
One ring
Two rings
Thin ring
No nest
White paint circles the cedar
Wire leaves fur along the hedge
The ditch foams blue after rain
Three eggs cool beneath the thorn
Farther down
the creek still moves
Nothing moves inside it
My roots drink it anyway
I grow around it
Ring after ring
Wood closes over iron
Green folds across the wound
Another spring
Another leaf
An empty nest above the mark
The iron stays
One ring
Two rings
Thin ring
No nest
Split me open
Read the years
Here
the summer came too early
Here
the bees returned in half their number
Here
the rain tasted of pennies
Here
nothing nested at all
You called each line a season
I kept the blade marks too
Now the orchard drops its fruit green
The frogs stop before midnight
The hive goes quiet by noon
Roots reach lower
find nothing
This year
the bark does not close
I grew around it
Ring after ring
Wood covered iron
Leaves covered wood
You saw green
and called it healed
This year
there is no new ring
This year
nothing grows around it
No new ring
No new ring
No new ring