I carry my coffee to our backyard deck

Still dressed for sleep

There is a welcomed chill in the air

The heat conspiring with humidity

The last few weeks

Kept us pacing inside

The pain so intense I woke at one

To cajole it back to bed

Rubbing salves on

Back down to my ankle

Twisting and turning

To get all the spots

Taking pills that only do

Half the job

Being warned that the others

Could stop my already broken heart

I slept through the restless night

Now at dawn

Settled in the soft deck chair

listening to the

robins’ conversation

I notice something odd

About the leaves

Of the grand old oak

A member of our family

For forty of our fifty years together

Attending every barbecue

Shading Slip n Slides

At birthday parties

Witness to their shenanigans

Chasing Max round and round

Subject to their attempts

To climb

We two grateful it let them cling

And descend without broken bones

I notice that thick vines

Have encircled not only

The trunk but

the limbs and branches

Leaves have turned brown

A color I could understand in fall

But we haven’t crossed the earth’s turn

To the first day of summer

My first cup of coffee cold

I rise too quickly

I feel the taut cord

From my butt to my ankle

Burst into flames of pain

And wonder about the tree