A tree on fire

Moses only got a bush, and here I am
with a whole tree. Though palm trees, I
read once, are actually great big

grasses with leaves of lies. That’s
what the thing I read today said they were.
I’m not sure it was lying, exactly, but

just minding its business. A palm tree
doesn’t care what it is, I reckon. But
what do I know, either? I know I’m looking

at a tree on fire, smoke billowing, I
think that’s the word I’d use, billowing,
like smoke does, that’s the word for it.

The leaves curling up like prayers.
The whole thing cracking, a whip to beat
the penitent, orange and black and dead.