John Grey’s most recent poem here was Matter (August 2010). This poem seems apropos for storm season … which seems to be the condition of the world right now.
Toppling Tree
By John Grey
By John Grey
The tree is coming down.
I hope the sky it holds up
doesn’t follow.
I pray the earth doesn’t panic.
Lightning, old age or the axe …
who knows.
Branches flail like marlin on a line.
Roots rip up the soil.
The trunk, whose rings once
spoke up for eternity,
casts a falling shadow,
wide and grim as death.
Squirrels bolt.
Crows scatter.
Even I am wary
though the toppling tree
is such a distance from my path.
But I saw the sky wobble.
I felt the earth turn
quicker than it had to.
This is an all to familiar sign of the times. Nicely done.