Arna Bontemps, "A Tree Design" (1927)
A TREE is more than a shadow
Blurred against the sky,
More than ink spilled on the fringe
Of white clouds floating by.
A tree is more than an April design
Or a blighted winter bough
Where love and music used to be.
A tree is something in me,
Very still and lonely now.
Published in Palms, October 1926
Also published in Caroling Dusk, 1927