I found them resting
together in the forest
before new year’s,
the rock a metaphor for stasis
and the tree —
younger.
The relationship brought authority
into question: the rock
casting skyscraper shadows in the dusk
and the acacia a favorite among the giraffes;
its belly, where a branch might have grown,
resting pregnant
against the granite.
They balance now.
It requires an over-tidying of nature
to call this symbiotic
and as I watched
the sand beneath my boot felt agitated;
it was experiencing the loss that comes
with independence.