Today I said my good-byes to the trees
that guard our street and populate the nearby park.
I ought to know them by name by now,
but I guess I have been walking by them
like they were residents in a nursing home—
lined up in wheelchairs in the hallway
and gathered in the social activity room,
never hearing their stories,
never pausing in wonder
at all they have seen in their years,
never realizing how much their presence
has given me until today
when it was time to say my good-byes.