The Tree

There is a tree in our backyard

That insists on showing us up.

stereotypical competitive neighbor

Our house is two stories high

But it stands a little bit taller than our house.

We have a big Christmas tree inside

That looks feeble and puny compared to our “neighbor’s” imposing conical structure.

Its ornaments nourish the neighborhood wildlife.

While ours simply hang.  Useless.

If we have friends over to admire our decorated Christmas symbol

Continuously crying out for water for its severed trunk

The tree outside has a huge fan club of thousands of birds and creatures

A peace offering: our homemade birdfeeders

 Hang rotten

Neglected

From a few of its lower branches

While the upper portion – the aviary VIP lounge –

Is alive with twittering and flapping.

Once we had a birdfeeder resting on our deck railing

But the wind blew it off.

Was it the wind? 

Or did a bigger birdfeeder bully it – knocking it out of consideration?

Best not to compete with Mother Nature.

She always wins.

~Ruth Hanley