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when a tree is struck by lightning

when a tree is struck by lightning
electricity will pass
from its tip to toe,
in the moist vessels
under its bark
split its bark outwards
in one loud crack
burn that which was wet
in the rings inside
the contour topography
of its years.

when a tree is struck by lightning
a purple-white flash will
find ground through its roots
kill it immediately
a tree, whole
within unstable seconds
but it will take years
for the decay to show
for a tree to become
rotten wood.

when a tree is struck by lightning
a temperature five times
hotter than the sun
shall shock it; this duration will be
nothing, in its large life
but enough amperes
to change it from an object of
biology
to an object of physics.

green leaves, will still live
after the thunderstorms
the flash fires
the electrocution, and the
communication from a cloud;
for a while.

things are not really understood
until the right metaphors arrive.
i have thought of many:
driftwood in a river,
snowflake and observer,
symbiosis and use,
but i have decided now.

i will pass through you
like lightning.

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