The Language of Trees, John L. Stanizzi

Midsummer Eve is also known as Herb Evening.   In some legends, a special plant, which is guarded by demons, flowers only on this one night a year. Successfully picking it gives one magical powers, like being able to understand the language of the trees.

If the trees speak in the forest
and no one is there
is the language of the trees audible,
or do the words drip from the leaves
down the rough lengths of their bodies
and seep into the ground,
the roots,
and is that language then
as simple as holding hands in the dark,
never speaking a single word?