PAPER WORK

 

I looked at a tree.

It looked back at me!

I turned away,

Red-faced with shame:

For the woods looked

More real to me

On paper, and in memory,

Than in their green

Reality.

 

But wouldn’t I rather

Have joined in the laughter

The humorous breeze

Tickled out of a myriad

Fanciful leaves?

 

Alas! I would rather

Be back in my study,

Typing away—

The simulated

Wood-grain panels

Reflecting the myriad pages

Of my treatise

On Ecology!