Exfoliating Bark

A few years ago
I sat under lovely shade trees
in my cousin's side yard.
I admired the trees
and my cousin's husband
asked if I would like one.
I said yes, thinking he was kidding.
Still in his tie from church,
he grabbed a shovel
and dug up a little shoot
that rode in my backseat
back to North Carolina.
That shoot grew into a small tree
as tall as the house.
I was dismayed last week
to see all the bark peeling.
I was sure this meant death.
Turns out, Drake Elm trees
shed their bark in the fall.
"Exfoliating Bark."
It is not a sign of disease,
but a normal rite of passage,
and a thing of beauty.