Newton's Mass

Timons Esaias


How the pine tree came to be

integral to Newton's birthday

is unclear.

-

One would expect, from legend,

an apple tree; or an ash,

for Yggdrasill, that his theories

replaced.

-

Whatever the reason, fitting,

that families gravitate

on this day of remembrance

to its evergreen

-

Fitting, the delicate orbs

we hang on it, evoking planets,

evoking the undone crystalline

spheres.

-

Fitting, the way the ornaments

divide and play with the light,

and also the day, coming so soon

after the increasing of it.

-

Fitting, the season

resolves about money,

for he was

Master of the Mint.

—Timons Esaias