ONLY RINGS

The only rings growing
on the old tree now
are water marks of the lake
as it floods and recedes
as it submerges soil
once nourishment for the tree;
as it evaporates by feet and yards
leaving a jigsaw puzzle
of mud pieces curling in sunshine
all for the tree to commemorate
with rising and falling water marks
like notching the growth of children,
like while alive it encircled itself
in another concentric ring of life.