1The
men take turns heaving their boys & girls
up
into the higher branches. 2Certain
women tie bands
of
rough green wool around the heavy ankles
of the
lowest hanging children. 3There
is groaning
in the
tree and a hazardous swaying, chaotic mostly,
but at
strange times unified. 4All
the men and women separate
and
confer at length and quietly. 5Certain
men, rough
wool
around their ankles, spit into their hands and climb
the tree if they see a kid hanging
with a band of theirs.
6At
this point the low branches either break or bow.
7If
they break, the women tend to their fallen children
and
the ankles of the next-lowest boys & girls are tied.
8If the
branches bow, the women are invited to join their men
and
heavy children by walking onto the smallest leaves,
now
trembling just above the grass. 9All
men and women
unaccounted
for tie themselves in rings around the tree to sing
an old but funny song to their
light-as-feathers
sons
& daughters, while stars fall, stuck up there.
