Its arms reframed the sky with shade...

Its arms reframed the sky with shade

the good, the green, the beautiful.

Each fall it buried half the yard

in drifts of orange and gold.

It stood inside the backyard fence

beside the street, behind our house.

Dad placed and braced two swings

from which we saw the world.

Then workmen came with saws,

and I was nine and cried.

Now when I hear the crunch of leaves

I close my eyes and see my friend again.