Tess Gallagher
I go to the mountain side
of the house to cut saplings,
and clear a view to snow
on the mountain. But when I look up,
saw in hand, I see a nest clutched in
the uppermost branches.
I don't cut that one.
I don't cut the others either.
Suddenly, in every tree,
an unseen nest
where a mountain
would be.
I've always loved little poems. This one is so short, so simple, and so effective (and actually kind of looks like a mountain come to think of it). I love how everything in the first two-thirds of the poem is literal and clear. Not a lot of descriptive language or glaring emotion. It makes the closing lines that much more impactful. "In every tree an unseen nest where a mountain would be." I think we often walk through life this way - making changes in pursuit of a specific goal or vision without necessarily pausing to realize the situation we're in is beautiful in a way we didn't recognize. Hmm.