A Clip in Time

the old Japanese man perched on the
yellow pickup's tailgate
nimble hands
separating the dun brown roots
tubers dangled like extra fingers

"it's a cypress tree" he announced
as he clipped and separated --
other bonsais sat behind him
lined up in the old nursery --
miniature warriors

so even with the blunt of it all
we are reborn again
perhaps tenderer, smaller

in this case
magnificently stunted --
stuck in time