Virginia
Visiting
Birds singing
Sunlight through gauze curtains like that Wyeth
Listening to a clear cut
Across the way
Angry buzz of the chainsaw
Crash! of a tree hitting the ground
Not so far off
But far enough that my thoughts
And that sweet bird stuck on replay
Can make it recede
And sometimes there is a lull
But not for long
For this is how
Humans get things done
They make a plan
Work out the details
Focus
Nose to the grindstone
Soon there will be no forest
Across the way
Where there was a forest just last week
Did anyone apologize to the trees
For taking their lives?
Did anyone say a prayer or leave an offering?
Like some of the First Nations People
Have tried to teach us to do?
The chain saw has an answer
With its tiny buzz of power
And the man behind it
At one with the all-important job
Buzz
Slight shift in pitch to angry
Crash!
This is how we put food on the plate
Isn't that sacred work?
Paying the bills?
And another tree crashes to the ground
And another
And another
And another
They get it done
Across the way
(Article changed on Sep 02, 2022 at 5:15 PM EDT)
