Loveliest of trees, the redbud here
adorns a grey-bark understory,
as snowy-pink blossoms now appear
before the summer-green canopy.
It’s odd to see its hatching shade
between the river and mountain road
as if it held its own parade
in quiet defiance from stem to node.
Sprawling out to spring’s new day
the redbud lips its charming tongue;
though sewn in rocky mountain clay,
it mutely motions me along.
-William Rieppe Moore
William Rieppe Moore is from Richland County, South Carolina and moved to Unicoi County, Tennessee in 2012 with his wife, Cherith, where he practices homesteading and animal husbandry. He is enrolled at East Tennessee State University pursuing an MA in English. His work has been published in “Still: The Journal,” “Vita Brevis,” and “Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture,” and his work has received recognition from The Poetry Society of Tennessee, and the “One Book, One Poem” contest.