I step forward and look down
At the rings within rings.
Before my cousin chopped it down
To chop it further, for the fireplace,
This tree had stood and grown here
For decades of years
Wider and taller
Thriving its way into surrounding space.

Admiration flickered inside my chest,
Small and thin and young,
A flicker like a short, appreciative laugh
On its way into an unknowable future
Or back into the past.
Walking up to the house, I want to be strong.