Learning

When the day is compelling,
intense with its call of light;
somehow it seems closer, here
where you stop and spread your hands
beneath the oaky foliage
to deliver an impromptu homily
fagaceae ...quercus... folias...
You know I am dutiful,
will always remember these words you spoke
as you bathe your palms in complicated shadows
and my own hesitant fingertip perfectly fits
the delicate fringe of the leaf.