Scott Simpson · Poetry

After the Cut

Relational Landscaping: The Human Terrain of Organizations · source pages 89, 90

The original line breaks, stanza spacing, and placement are preserved. Long lines scroll horizontally.

Source page 89

After the Cut

The shears are sharp,

the air still.

A hand hesitates—

then moves with care,

tracing the line

Source page 90

between what must go

and what might grow again.

Leaves fall,

soft as letters

unwritten.

Tomorrow, the branch will ache,

but sunlight will find

new paths through the green.

Roots, unshaken,

will remember.

This, too, is tending—

to cut with kindness,

to hold what’s living,

and to trust

that what remains

will reach for light again.