Wild

Don’t you dare climb that tree
or even try, they said, or you will be
sent away to the hospital of the
very foolish, if not the other one.
And I suppose, considering my age,
it was fair advice.

But the tree is a sister to me, she
lives alone in a green cottage
high in the air and I knew what
would happen, she’d clap her green hands,
she’d shake her green hair, she’d
welcome me. Truly

I try to be good but sometimes
a person just has to break out and
act like the wild springy thing
one used to be. Its impossible not
to remember wild and want it back. So

if someday you can’t find me you might
look into that tree or - of course
it’s possible - under it.

~ Mary Oliver