The Tree

HELEN HOYT

On the way to the factory,

In the block as you leave the car,

Growing from cinders

Is a tree.

And it has leaves ....

Green ....

All around are the factory walls

And small sooty houses with bleak steps

And babies crawling among flies ....

In summer I have felt the pavements

Pouring out heat like ovens.

O tree, how can you be so patient!