To the northeast and beyond
On the very edges of the glistening shores
A shattered forest of stump and splinter
Cracked and smoldering, as if for all time
Yet that disastrous event which stripped the land
Has yet to ever occur


There is no record of wildfire
No meteor shower from the summer night sky
No overturned lantern or lightning strike
Nothing has ever happened here
For as long as things have been recorded
And our generations have run


But still the forest smokes
The ground tucked in below a blanket of ash
The few remaining trees are sickly and charred
Yet never do they fall or die
And never do new trees sprout
Despite the fertile ground rich in minerals


No it was not long ago
That the forest burned and the earth was scarred
Nor was it recently so
We know truly that it was ages from now
In an unspeakable sector of posterity
A forgotten year that is yet to be


In the far distant future this forest burns
And the land is laid bare before us
The event echoes back to us
A warning a premonition
Of dread and fearful things to come
But alas it is only a premonition

Stone chipped and worn
Damage and years hidden
Blanketed by moss
A covering of tranquility  
Beneath shade and root  
Neither day or night
Have much difference
So deep down and within  
Floors upon ceilings
Canopy over canopy
New life from old
Ever sprouting and breaking
A Comforting perpetuity
Here I will rest for a while
While long ages pass
As though they were but dreams

Once upon a time—
Time I vividly remember,
I was ending my life line
Saying, “Lord, I surrender.”
Knife is what I hold;
Rope is what I grasp,
But someone has told:
“Don't let faith escape from your clasp.”

Sleeping
Like a couple of earthworms
Wound around each other
Mating.

Thunder and rain
Dark clouds roll over the earth
Not quickly as in a storm
The heavens stand almost still
The rain not slanted but straight down
No lighting but only thunder
So much known to now be lost
Most of it for the better
For knowing all evil
Only multiplies evil
And the deep truths
Obscure the simple ones
Let the rain come
To wash us all away
That those who come after
May be better than we
Though it is not intended
Nor can ever been
Until all things pass away

Waste away
Our bodies decay
To the earth we flee
And are thus inlaid
Wrapped in roots
The soil so sweet
Damp and cool
From crowns to our feet
A rest for eternity
Yet not for all time
To awaken once more
When the Earth is sublime
Until then we sleep
And in sleep we do dream
For the sleep of death
Is not all it may seem