She sees tree people

Standing out in the river

Talking softly amongst themselves

She says they stop talking when we

Approach them and they

Turn away, these shy tree folk

The only others who can see them

Are the grandchildren who speculate about

Whether they are greek tree spirits or

Japanese tree spirits, 'kodamas'

She likes the theories

She tells of how horrified and surprised

The tree people were when Dad cut down

The butterfly bushes

Their eyes wide, their mouths

Open in large O’s

She says, ‘you should have seen them!’

Silent on the trip home

My daughter asks if I’m ok

I don’t know how to be ok

When my mother sees such things

When the doctors tell us it’s dementia

And it will be getting worse. 

I hide for days, tearfully

mourning my mother who is not gone yet

Sherrie,  my friend, assures me

My mother has just advanced to

A spiritual plane the rest of us

 Haven’t reached yet

And I thank the universe for her

Ability to see the world this way

For my children whose open minds

Allow them to see tree spirits for

My mother who sees tree people

I may never have noticed their

Spirits without her

Now I will never look at them

without seeing her