Tree sap
crying down
stumps condensed
the atmosphere of iron:
stillness of half-execution.
The ground sweetened too
that afternoon as Diana slew
her watcher.
When even the gross dog Pamphagos,
licking and gabbling,
couldn’t taste the sugar
of tears wept
in trembling youth.
Each drop exuded
from flesh or xylem
is weighted somehow.
Meanwhile, the air is chronicling
all forest-deaths,
felled at the same command -
a record
indelible as tree rings.
History makes cuts graver
and darkens the syrup bled.
Bitter visions
come unbidden
as I pass this clearing
on the train, thinking of the dead.
crying down
stumps condensed
the atmosphere of iron:
stillness of half-execution.
The ground sweetened too
that afternoon as Diana slew
her watcher.
When even the gross dog Pamphagos,
licking and gabbling,
couldn’t taste the sugar
of tears wept
in trembling youth.
Each drop exuded
from flesh or xylem
is weighted somehow.
Meanwhile, the air is chronicling
all forest-deaths,
felled at the same command -
a record
indelible as tree rings.
History makes cuts graver
and darkens the syrup bled.
Bitter visions
come unbidden
as I pass this clearing
on the train, thinking of the dead.
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