Tamarack

From pinkish reddish silver bark
my needles spiral forth in spring
soft light-bluish green clusters
swirl around short lateral shoots
            tamarack twigs
festooned with flowers yellow and red 

My roots are deep
and I’ll grow tall and wide
my spreading branches droop
veeries   sparrows     chickadees
swoop in
to visit   to nest
to feed        chat     be acrobats 

Every autumn my gentle needles
glow radiant yellow gold
red flowers have ripened
into pendent red
ovoid-globose cones
with trifid scales
the snug houses
where my seeds will be
once I am ten
when new seedlings can sprout
red squirrels can feast 

I am a special pineous tree:
coniferous and deciduous
majestic Larch
Hackmatack
Tamarack
that’s me