(Lake Tahoe, west shore)

Red hammock
under tall Jeffrey pines
set against bluest blue,

I eye a soaring specimen
that divides in two
forty feet up.

Like us, one trunk,
two offshoots,
still reaching

for sky—even
as we add more
rings to our core,

around our
increasing middles,
surprisingly

strong and
sturdy, so very
well rooted.

•••

(for Dickie—mahalo nui loa for the great Tahoe getaway)