The Tree And Me

please carve no cold headstone for me but rather plant a sapling tree
and lay my ashes beneath its foot so through my body it takes root
then as the seasons come and go my monument and I will grow
wave bright green flags at summer’s sky and harbor birds who happen by
we’ll bronze each autumn, bloom with spring, and wear the white coats winters
bring
the tree I marry with my dust will husband me with rooted thrusts
our seed will scatter far and wide across God’s fertile countryside
and soon an arbor family will share our immortality
a tree and me