Wind through the pines in Wellfleet suggests Merwin’s Hawaii.
A double row of cypresses recalls my grandparents’ farm in Italy.
Lilacs bring back Sunday visits to the Arnold Arboretum.
My parents planted dozens of rhododendrons on the Cape:
those named for our kids received special attention.

At Lexington Cemetery, we visit the ancient basswood.
We pay our respects to the hollow catalpa at Henry Clay Estate
and greet the ash along Fairway Drive.
We admire the Kentucky coffee trees at McConnell Springs.

Although our ash trees are victims of the emerald ash borer
Dave Leonard provides a legacy of bur oaks
and Larry Johnson encourages a canopy of trees to shield our modest yard.

But will the swamp oak, the white oak, the honey locust, the Japanese red maple,
the wild cherry, the pink dogwoods, and the hardy ginkgo—
the last said to predate the dinosaurs—live to see the 22nd century?