CHOICES
by 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.
Photo: Byota Art, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
“Choices” appears in MIDNIGHT LANTERN: New and Selected Poems by Tess Gallagher (Graywolf Press, 2011)