vultures

FALLEN REDWOOD & MOUNTAIN ASH

By Linda A. Knowles

March 2018

O Mighty Redwood and Mountain Ash,

whose girth of trunk and superlative height none

could, at one time, compare!

Nevertheless, you have fallen!

And Jezebel and Ahab suffocate you;

and the vultures fly overhead, 

to seek out where the carcass lies,

as the Ara Macaos,

perched upon your branches,

cackle and call out,

and they shriek wildly,

sending out their cries

and flailing their wings all about.