Up A Tree (from Birdhouses of the Heart)

Once I overheard someone say
go climb a tree

an expression that never meant much to me
until I turned forty-two and developed a yen for the wild

"Mother Nature's Child"
searching for grapevines
pine cones, bird's nests
up and down trees of our town

helped by friends like little Sam
who was not believed
when he said the nest he found in a neighbor's tree
was for my collection.

"Sure. I bet."

I guess most folks think someone as old as me
would have birds in her nest if she climbed a tree.