The Botticellian Trees by William Carlos Williams
The alphabet of
the trees
is fading in the
song of the leaves
the crossing
bars of thin
letters that spelled
winter
and the cold
have been illuminated
with
pointed green—
by the rain and sun—
The strict simple
principles of
straight branches
are being modified
by pinched-out
ifs of color, devout
conditions
the smiles of love—
……
unit the stript
sentences
move as a woman’s
limbs under a cloth
and praise from secrecy
quick with desire
love’s ascendancy
in summer—
In summer the song
sings itself
above the muffles words—
