Dedicated to

I was writing at home when I heard a voice outside the window say, “Hey, why don’t you come on out?”

I went to the window and opened the shades. The maple tree in my front yard waved one of its branches and said, “It’s nice out. I’d like to see you.”

I’m a sucker for the tree so of course I went outside.

The tree said, “What have you been doing?”

I said, “I was writing some poems. They were about how much I like nature. One of them was about you.”

The tree said, “Oh my God, that’s so nice. Can you tell it to me?”

I said, “Let me see if I can remember it…Umm…Tree, my favorite beautiful tall magesticky, I love how you try and reach the sun, I believe in you so much that I know one day you will!”

The tree cried and hugged me with one of its branches. The tree said, “That was beautiful. No one’s ever written a poem about me before!”

I said, “Oh, I’ve got a whole notebook of them about you.”

The tree said, “Can you read them to me?”

I said, “Really?”

The tree said, “Yes, please!”

I went back in and got my notebook and then came out and sat under the tree and spent the rest of the afternoon reading to the tree.