The Twitchells have departed
I learn one winter evening
On arriving for vacation
At a subtly changed home

We knew them, our neighbors
As one tree knows another
As the maple in our yard
Knew the birch in theirs

When we spoke it was only
As when, in the Fall,
The raked pile of maple
Discovers a birch

And all times else
It sufficed us to feel
The same wind in our branches
As murmured in theirs.