Or fl ood-crammed onto canyon fl oors, or poised,
Huge and single on the slopes (one over a pool
He used to fi sh), or choking the side-gulches,
Or standing here and there in the open grassy places,
Or paired and fl anking the trail at one bend he knew.
On the way up there. The trees,
Standing in long straight rows
Each row and each tree in it
Spaced the same, were once
Skillfully tended. Neglected later,
Yellowing, some of them
Already dead, they were some more
Speculative real estate, though that morning
As he drove through they were still
Sending equidistant shadows
Aslant over the black-top, between which
The low-going sun had laid fl ush a row
Of wide palings, pure light: they hurt his eyes,
One after another fl ashing an instant
Before vanishing smoothly under the tires.