Evergreens

Inspired by William Wordsworth's "Daffodils" and Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Love's Philosophy."

I sit and watch the evergreens

That stand as still as fallen snow.

And even when the winter seems

To steal the colors as it goes,

Those trees don’t ever change at all.

They’re green and strong and always tall.

When breath comes as a cloud of mist,

And dewdrops stick to trunks and freeze,

And all the world by snow is kissed

I see things change, except those trees.

I ponder how the world won’t stop

Despite my wish to not grow up.

Now spring makes way and melts the frost,

And evergreens don’t cease to thrive.

No needle from a branch is lost,

But how the stream is come alive.

I notice how the stream goes on

And see I, too, must move along.

I cannot be an evergreen

No matter what I do or try.

I am a flowing summer stream

And growing older ‘til I die.

For now I’ll find peace in the trees

That stay, unchanging, in the breeze.