The Seven Faces of the Cherry Tree 

What are you, Old Cherry Tree? 
How do you make your branches wind? 
How many faces do you know and see? 
When do you grow your own mind? 

How do you make your branches wind? 
The curve of the wind takes them places. 
When do you know your own mind? 
Will it be stored in the stone with the faces? 

The curve of the wind takes me places 
That I never knew before or after 
It will be stored in the stone with all of the faces 
And I will recall the kindness and laughter 

Will I ever know before or after 
The leaves that grow green in the summer rain? 
I will recall the kindness and laughter 
And despair and anger and immeasurable pain. 

The leaves will grow brown in the autumn rain 
Then drift at the edges of all the feelings 
With the despair and the anger and the immeasurable pain 
We negotiate carefully in all of our dealings. 

To drift at the edges of all these feelings... 
How will I be able to complete this task? 
To negotiate carefully all of my dealings 
I have to honestly face myself and ask: 

How will I be able to complete this task? 
How many faces do I know and see? 
I have to face myself in order to ask: 
What are you, Old Cherry Tree?

Maya Angelou, American poet, singer and civil rights activist, was born today in 1928.

Cherie Lunghi, English actress, was born today in 1952.