the great pause
winds & rains & planetary rotation
strips the mighty oak of its november leaves
but not its power of regeneration
it’s as if it had died a thousand deaths
yielding to its cyclical fate with
elegance & humility
like a bear in hibernation
sleeping through the winter
headstrong & towering & unafraid
dreaming uninterrupted of endless summers
of the promise of primaveral sunshine
november two thousand twenty-four
copyright j matthew waters
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