Birches

Whatever possesses birches to undress
in the dead of winter, solitary and come-hither,
their papery spice-colored layers 

wavering 

in the wet, weighty breeze?

The peeling layers go on revealing
until it seems there are more layers 

than there is tree.

A tree half-peeled is no less a tree,
any underbark revealed is nearly healed.

Copyright Jean Monahan