Saturday, February 4, 2017

"The Woodcutter Changes His Mind" by David Budbill

The Woodcutter, 1891 by Winslow Homer
The Woodcutter, Winslow Homer, 1891


When I was young, I cut the bigger, older trees for firewood, the ones
with heart rot, dead and broken branches, the crippled and deformed

ones, because, I reasoned, they were going to fall soon anyway, and
therefore, I should give the younger trees more light and room to grow.

Now I’m older and I cut the younger, strong and sturdy, solid
and beautiful trees, and I let the older ones have a few more years

of light and water and leaf in the forest they have known so long.
Soon enough they will be prostrate on the ground.


"The Woodcutter Changes His Mind" by David Budbill from While We've Still Got Feet. © Copper Canyon Press, 2005.

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