Four Trees
by Donald Givans
As you narrow your eyes and focus
I follow the line of your sight
to the prospect of order before us:
four trees in equipoise. The thrust
of it—symmetrical, plumb—excites
you. I narrow my eyes and focus
on colour, nonplussed
by this arboreal (your favourite)
prospect of order. Before us
were water-lilies—all blooming fuss
and clutter—but right
now you’d rather all eyes refocused
on this long-extinct border—this locus
amoenus, you call it (lost overnight
on a prospector’s orders). Before us,
I say, the proof of disorder—life on the cusp
of loss. You save that fight
for later, and narrow your eyes. You focus:
the prospect of order before us.
Donald Givans was born in 1990 in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He recently graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in English from Queen’s University Belfast and is currently reading for a Masters at Queen’s in Modern Poetry.