Tree ear listens, subtlety hears,

Furtive rustles — false dawn nears.

Rat snake’s slither,

Screech owl’s feather,

Prey-fraught field mouse fears.

Midst the silence spacing these,

Arboreal battle rare eye sees.

Push for sun and water feints,

War that no surrender taints

With efforts to appease.

Carpet moss down tree ear creeps,

Bryophyta stealthy keeps

Intentions cloaked by time and space,

Victory march at glacial pace,

Tree ear listens , nothing— sleeps.

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