The gum trees are shedding their outer skin
Wildly
Ecstatically
With an abandon usually reserved for lovers
The old year is being sloughed off
Discarded and thrown to the wind
Each tree
Shamelessly impatient to be
Unclothed
Naked
New
It is not always so
Some years inspire modesty
Chastity
Bark drops demurely
Trees stand almost shyly
Self-consciously
In their newness still covering their feet
Not daring
Yet
To dream for too much
Old men are seeing portents
Reading the bark for signs
What say the trees of the future?
Can I trust it
Give myself to it
Can I too shed my shell
Allow myself to be
Unadorned
Unprotected
Maybe even free?
I’d like to be