4x4 forest

there were several green trees surrounding my place
i lived in the center of the city

the green would expand in the summer and contract in the fall
the city did the opposite

i likened the tiny green worms that hung from my branches
to my tiny neighbors across the hall

i likened the worms to myself as well, and to all the other people
all the people in the city, at least

but i soon found out after a long discussion that they were not
worms at all, they were simply leaves

they were leaves of the tree, tiny leaves yes, leaves that moved
like a worm and they talked like a worm

but if a leaf says it's a leaf you do not argue. you simply hold it
close to your chest until it falls asleep

and it will dream for hours at a time, with images of adam and
gardens and what it's like to be a worm

i laughed at the leaf after it was sleeping, because i could easily
see that it would never be a worm

as long as it kept convincing people that it was a leaf
in the middle of a city.