songbirds sail an ocean of leaves
where sharp-scissor branches cut the sky,
or stroke its silky blueness.

below, the roots stretch and talk
threading through each other

crack bark, smooth bark, twisted bark

this tree is covered with eyes
this tree is loved by mistletoe

crunch and kick the fallen beech leaves
or softly tread carpets inside cathedrals of yew

leaves spin through the wind

curled grey beards of lichen tangle, wefts of
     natures knitting
          woven into the strands of fungi highways
               through the warps of tree trunks,
                    embroidered with brown spherical galls, where tiny wasps build their universes,
                         smooth acorns bob around this tapestry,

snatched up by hungry beaks.

and in this hidden nook, a chaffinch steadily weaves her own tiny and exquisite home.
her babies will grow held safely with stretching spiders web.

an acorn flexes its first ever set of leaves
and blinks in the sunlight.