Palm Tree

Palm-tree: single-legged giant,
          topping other trees,
            peering at the firmament -
It longs  to pierce the black cloud-ceiling
          and fly away, away,
            if only it had wings.

The tree  seems to express its wish
          in the tossing of its head:
            its fronds heave and swish -
It thinks, Maybe my leaves are feathers,
          and nothing stops me now
            from rising on their flutter.

All day    the fronds the windblown tree
          soar and flap and shudder
            as though it thinks it can fly,
As though  it wanders in the skies,
          travelling who knows where,
            wheeling past the stars -

And then  as soon as the wind dies down,
          the fronds subside, subside:
            the mind of the tree returns.
To earth,  recalls that earth is its mother:
          and then it likes once more
            its earthly corner.