(no subject)

[apiphile]

Mutual growth

For maud and fred on the occasion of their wedding

at the place where the lake makes an elbow there are two islets
like land-drops on the surface of the water
unremarkable but for the tangled tree that spreads across them
or say rather trees: one on each.
spidery roots cover one micro continent
thick twisting buttresses over the other's reach
and across the channel dividing their kingdoms
two small giants lean together
a pair of individual arboreal empires embrace one another
and become a central column
grasping for the sun
each might have striven unsupported
but they've united into one
wooden bridge across the waters
where gleeful squirrels run
and a single day grows into years
in the turning of a leaf.
such is the reward of stretching out
to take another's hand:
with a tight enough clasp we make a channel
our own land.