Shade

Close up photo of a small key lime fruit on the tree, behind its leaves.

Freckled teenager
avoiding direct sunlight:
young lime on its tree.

Flown

Close up photo of a bird’s nest, crumbling between the branches of a flower tree.

Fledglings leave the nest,
the last of the twigs crumble:
parents’ duties done.

Let it be

Close up photo showing new growth on a giant, old tree.

Dormant ancient tree,
ageing, greying, still standing:
life survives and thrives.

Wave

Photo of a tree full of bottlebrushes in bloom, against a cloudless blue sky, with a sliver of the moon visible.

Nature’s cheerleader:
waving red-green pom-poms high;
weeping bottlebrush.

Gone

Close up photo of an almond, still intact and on the tree.

Season’s first almond,
as smooth as bearskin carpets—
bird bitten too soon.