Tree of Life

Grace Schulman

GRACE SCHULMAN

        TREE OF LIFE

               I

If you can't see the wood for me,
so much the better. Tiers of needles
depend from arms that make arcs
when the wind disturbs them.
My hands command.
Even in this hairy grove
I cast tatterdemalion shadows
changing as air plays taut strings.

              u

I have deadly names:
hemlock, white pine, arbor
vitae (tree of life
meaning no life);
I hold souls that wake
when you pass.
Do not enter my husk,
my veins burrow underground
in dendrons and rivulets.
Through leaded triangles
of mullioned glass,
my charred legs claw the earth.