What if we all spoke tree,
a love language across the planet?
Whether deciduous or evergreen
in forests or jungles, we would speak volumes
to birds, beetles, and butterflies.
We’d be home to squirrels, monkeys,
sloths, chameleons, and tree frogs.
Our soundless words would be understood
in all tree languages: Choke Cherry,
White and Loblolly Pine, Black Gum,
Narrowleaf, Cottonwood, Quaking Aspen, Baobab,
Acacia, Weeping Willow, Ebony, and Jacaranda.
And because trees know no borders,
we would not draw lines, build walls,
put other trees in cages
or determine which tree belongs
and which tree doesn’t
based on the color of its bark.
We’d give shade from our limbs in summer
firewood from our arms in winter
fruit and nuts from our boughs in fall
places of refuge from the storms of spring.
For some, autumn colors would be the song
while others would sing green in every season.
Our messages to each other would transit
deep in the well of the earth.
We’d draw questions up from the soil
and answers down from the sky.
Lisa Vihos has recently retired from her day job and can now be found crocheting, acting in plays, walking by the lake, and still writing poetry. Her most recent chapbook, Sheboygan Occasions (Lone Snake Press, 2025), features poems written by request during her time as Sheboygan’s first poet laureate (2020-2025).