Fern Rock

stolid stone sentinel
from which fern
and sapling sprout

proud memento of
a tumultuous age
bearing scars of

season’s wiles on
its ruddy countenance
creased by rain

pocked by ice
lashed by wind
burnished by sun

standing as symbol
fulcrum and anchor
balancing stasis and

change on solid
base and end-
point orientation as

I pass on
my round about
your domain returning

the way I
came with questions
that abide silence

whistling in wind
at treetop sifting
light and shadow

concealing more of
what waits to
be found

Foxdrive

Fox Drive
(Ca. 1948)

hundred men strong
gathered at dawn
in a circle
round rolling pasture
cudgels in hand
drawing the noose
tighter around the
unsuspecting quarry safe
in their den
stunned to alarm
by sounds above
and around on
the ground where
they ran freely
now testing for
a breach in
the line circling
their waning freedom
on blunt edge
of roughhewn
club opening fir
splitting bone
spitting blood stilled
into a pile
of wide-eyed wonder
at the sudden
end in a
contest of uneven
odds and I
standing in stunned
silence at the
slaughter of innocent
predator at the
hands of placid
farmers aflame with
revenge sworn to
a silent code
that answered to
the call of
blood in warmth
of noonday sun

The Future

the future approaches
rattling its sword
secure the door
against encroaching knight