The Scarlet Maple
(for Aaron)
I went out to the park today
to see the tree your great-aunt
planted in your memory.
Like you it is a sapling bursting to bloom
and through it your broken limbs
will arch and stretch, and leaves
will blaze like your living spirit.
Best of all, you will grow old,
and I swear that nothing,
no one, will ever again
cut you down.