The poem follows one tree through a single day, giving each part its own small personality and worry. The new leaf at the top is giddy with pride, humming that nothing sits above it. The flower buds blush and dream of bees and fruit. The branches talk like managers, worrying about growth "targets," while the bark frets over termites, woodpeckers and squirrels. Down below, the roots fear fickle rain and hard rock.
The tone is gentle and gently funny at first, since the tree's parts sound like people with office-style concerns. Everyone is busy planning a future. Then the poem quietly shifts. Day turns to night, the owl hooted and the bats come and go, and the tree sighs because it knows it is its last night.
The ending carries the feeling. Nothing explains why the tree will die, and that silence makes it sadder. The poem suggests how much of life goes on in hopes and small anxieties, with the end arriving unannounced.