Where Is Your Nearest Tree?

Most of us
Most of the time
Live in a manufactured world.

We need to reconnect
With what we left behind
Or never knew at all.

To touch not plywood or two-by-four but living tree
Crush needles between fingers, inhale the pine-y perfume
Trace raindrops on an aspen leaf.

We need to rub urban skin over untamed bark
Sit against the trunk
Feel the wind sway us both.

Where is your nearest tree?
Go and say hello.

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Aspen poplar   Populus tremuloides