Between the spruce and pine I glimpsed the sky.
My chest constricted, noose around my heart.
It took a while to know the reason why.

Inside, a voice proclaimed, you're going to die,
great clots of fear were bursting me apart.
Between the spruce and pine I glimpsed the sky.

My lover touched my hand; I tried to lie.
"Nothing, nothing," I whimpered at the start.
It took a while to know the reason why,

so, frowning, he ignored my first reply.
"I'm terrified. I wanted to be smart,
but between the spruce and pine I glimpsed the sky,

blocked from this forest deep." I longed to cry,
or imitate a startled moose, and dart.
It took a while to know the reason why.

"Be calm. Quite soon the two of us will fly
home to the flatlands, nature's richest art."
Between oak and elm I glimpsed an open sky.
At last I smiled; I knew the reason why.