Strange Tree

Away beyond the Jarboe house

I saw a different kind of tree.

The trunk was old and large and bent,

And I could feel it look at me.

The road was going on and on

Beyond, to reach some other place,

I saw a tree that looked at me,

And yet it did not have a face.

It looked at me with all its limbs;

It looked at me with all its bark.

The yellow wrinkles in its sides

Were bent and dark.

And then I ran to get away,

But when I stopped and turn to see,

The tree was bending to the side

And leaning out to look at me.