Solstice Dance:  Trees


Old strippers
careworn and patched

protesting mildly
at the cold

slip off one
brittle scrap at a time.

Slow but easy
with practice,

they bare limbs
well-worn

stroked by
slender fingers

into a wild frenzy --
heat burns away

in the rattling dance
of bones nearly naked

and nearly dead,
they settle groaning

into cloaks of brilliant
silence to sleep

murmuring to themselves
songs of wanton rhythm,

waiting for the spotlight
to come again.

			Kelly J. Cooper
			Copyright 1992, all rights reserved