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Some Trees by John Ashbery

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One of my favourite Ashbery poems. This is the moment, this here.

Some Trees
John Ashbery

These are amazing: each
Joining a neighbor, as though speech
Were a still performance.
Arranging by chance

To meet as far this morning
From the world as agreeing
With it, you and I
Are suddenly what the trees try

To tell us we are:
That their merely being there
Means something; that soon
We may touch, love, explain.

And glad not to have invented
Such comeliness, we are surrounded:
A silence already filled with noises,
A canvas on which emerges

A chorus of smiles, a winter morning.
Placed in a puzzling light, and moving,
Our days put on such reticence
These accents seem their own defense.

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This poem appeared in The Mooring Of Starting Out by John Ashbery, published by Ecco Press, 1997. Shared here with profound gratitude.

Read more works by John AshberyFind books by this poet • Or view my library

Explore poems in pursuit of: naturetendernessliving • Or browse the index

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Some Trees by John Ashbery

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