for the Oak trees in Rocky Nook Park…

While I’ve been sleeping
the Oak trees have been dancing.
They’ve been playing the Dance/Freeze game all morning
and one of them must have called out “Freeze” just before I arrived
and they are holding their statuesque positions,
playing the game so masterfully,
it’s like they’ve been standing that way forever.
I can feel their ready to burst laughter as I write this.
Unable to control themselves
a few of the younger ones start to shake.
They think I don’t notice until several leaves fall to the ground,
one of them landing right in front of my foot.
I feel the whole grove holding its breath,
all of the trees eyeing each other back and forth,
whispering “She knows. She knows.”
And yet none of them will break the rules, for as everybody knows, if one moves during “Freeze” they’re out.
It’s hard to sit still among such unrequited ecstasy.
Two trees looking like they’ve been swaying together for a long time
arch into each other’s trunks, almost kissing.
Then there is the one who has been pleasuring herself,
who is bending over with branches outstretched, calling to her Beloved.
Another two are fencing with eight swords each.
Another five are entangled in a great tickle pile.
And then there is the one who is like a dark lightning rod
rising up from the Earth, penetrating a ring of swooning waifs.
Another leaf falls to the ground
and my focus is unwavering as the stillness of the Oaks.
I wonder if they would ever let a human play with them
and if they would let me be the Caller
and what would happen if I called out “Dance!”
As if hearing my thoughts a gentle wind
blows through the wooded sanctuary,
causing the hairs on my arms to stand up.
And the Oaks nod back and forth amongst each other, saying,
“She knows. She knows.”