Trees Fall Apart

(With apologies to W. B. Yeats)

Blowing and blowing in the river winds

the trees cannot bear the weight;

Trees fall apart; included bark cannot hold;

sheer terror is loosed upon the yard,

the thump, the shake and then the mess,

and yet again a massive oak is felled,

not by rot, not by rain or wind even

but because the ancient joint could no longer hold.

The great kings of the Holly Point woods

falling one by one, like a generation of people.

What is to come, what will rule the woods once they are gone?

Is there a prophecy here?

Are we becoming an uprooted generation,

One of people who cannot hold ?

One of people who give off the appearance of being joined

being included, being connected...

beware of those places where the connections are fraying.

guard them, protect them.

Clean out the debris that weighs on the conjoining.

Be ware that what hangs in your trees will break your joints and sever your ties

and fell your kings.

Trees fall apart and so do people.