Angels in the Treetops

A few days ago, while returning from a walk with Buddy through the meadow, made even more perfect by those beautiful old Norway pines standing nearby, I noticed the treetops leading back to the house and how they sparkled in the sunlight. I couldn't resist taking their pictures.

When I was back at my table, in the warmth of the kitchen, I opened a book of poetry by Mary Oliver that I'd purchased the day before and found this poem:


"About Angels and About Trees"

Where do angels
  fly in the firmament,
and how many can dance
  on the head of a pin?

Well, I don't care
  about that pin dance,
what I know is that
  they rest, sometimes,
in the tops of trees

and you can see them,
  or almost see them,
or, anyway, think: what a
  wonderful idea.

I have lost as you and
  others have possibly lost a
beloved one,
  and wonder, where are they now?

The trees, anyway, are
  miraculous, full of
angels (ideas); even
  empty they are a
good place to look, to put
  the heart at rest -- all those
leaves breathing the air, so

peaceful and diligent, and certainly
  ready to be
the resting place of
  strange, winged creatures
that we, in this world, have loved.

~ Mary Oliver, from Evidence



Even now, on this cold winter day, it's not difficult at all to imagine them there, resting among the shining treetops.