Trees converse with each other
One tree bends a branch trembling with nascent leaflets to other
The other steadily holds up a nest
One shows green lichen spreading on its brown bark
Other has caterpillars crawling over its trunk
One turns its foliage from the other to share sunlight
Under the earth the other tugs its roots to where dampness is
Trees write also, on the sheets of winds
One has to know the script of fragrances
and dew, raindrops and snow as well
They paint on moonbeams and lake waters
As a child how often you kept awake
and left for solitary wanderings!
True, the squirrels do not scurry over our tables
nor do the birds perch on the chairs
But we rejoice making wooden toys
of birds flapping their stringed wings
Dig up clumsily carved bull-carts from ancient ruins
We have played with boats, cars, trains and aeroplanes of wood
And of course, the wooden soldiers with wooden swords
And prayed to saints fashioned from logs
and cut a cross from a tree
And now we beg forgiveness from this paper