My neighbour
bought two palm trees
to decorate his pool.
I couldn’t hide my admiration.
“These can grow 20-feet high,” I said,
“and live for decades!”
He nodded.
“Where will you keep them in winter?”
I asked.
He seemed surprised.
“The city will take them,”
he said,
“together with the Christmas tree.
Next summer
we’ll buy new ones.”
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, writes for Blacklock’s each and every Sunday)