Two trees,
Planted next to one another
Watch each other grow.
Their roots intermingle
And they communicate
With each other.
They both produce
New leaves in the Spring,
And bear fruit in the Summer,
They know each other’s heart.
God’s dwell in trees
—the dead and reborn kind—
Two trees that flourish,
Whose boughs reach heaven
Incarnated into tree spirits,
Tendering two sorts of fruit:
Oranges and tangerines.
Trees considered by the serpent
Enlightenment and immortality
Rooted in the rhizomes.
Shelter and shade;
The bountiful two trees,
Branches admit a diffused light.
Poem by Stephen Barile
Stephen Barile, a Fresno, California native, educated in the public schools, and attended Fresno City College, Fresno Pacific University, and California State University, Fresno. He was a long-time member of the Fresno Poet’s Association. Stephen Barile taught writing at Madera Community College, and CSU Fresno. He lives in Fresno. His poems have been published extensively, including North Dakota Quarterly, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, Featured Poets, Santa Clara Review, Kathmandu Tribune, Tower Poetry, Mason Street Review, Sandy River Review, Open: Journal of Arts & Letters, OVUNQUE SIAMO, From Sac Literary Journal, The Heartland Review, Rio Grande Review, The Broad River Review, The San Joaquin Review, Haight-Ashbury Literary Journal, Pharos.