Michael Shepherd Tree Poems

Two birds rest on the same tree;
their eyes are bright;

they look alike; yet one
...

Spiky, a mass of spikes more threatening than sharp -
what are they fending off, what are they protecting
so fiercely with their green carapace like a thoughtful womb,
dropping their hidden beauties in reflective autumn
...

The soft spring wind
is whispering words of love
to the slender branches
whose leaves flutter
...

At dawn each day, as
the monk awoke upon the polished floor, and
rolled his bedding mat, the Way –
the way things are, the way they follow –
...

Tenderly
with its soft leaves
the tree shaded the poet
as he wrote
...

Look at this old photograph..
some of these old photos look
more ancient than their, what,
hundred-and-twenty years;
...

Tenderly
under the tree's shade
the poet wrote;
...

The sun so hot,
green grass now brown

under a tree
...