Trees in winter are so beautifully bare, so
meticulously exposed and apparently vulnerable
during this absolutely coldest time of year
when the rest of us cover ourselves in layers,
huddling on couches, in beds, dozing, dreaming,
hoping for returning warmth and springing light;
yet even in the thinnest of branches in the freezing
winds amid bleakest gray skies, something flows,
carrying the newness of green that will emerge.
