| Out for a walk in a piney wood,
Annoyed with all of life,
I found an old burnt stump
Amid autumnal leaves.
Around the charred circumference
Where I’d kicked the leaves and straw away,
In deep bold letters carved long ago
By an angry hand were these words:
“Lay Hands On Me At Your Peril!
Abstain And Never Regret!“
Kicking my way slowly through the pine straw,
I thought, How Strange
That a nobody’s words
Could travel so far and anger me so!
I wondered, if he had known
How long his reach would be,
Might he have chosen other words
To scratch upon that tree?
rcs.
3rd draft: 09/07/01
4th draft: 01/25/10
©1980 Ronald C. Southern |
This is intriguing - I like it. Maybe the tree itself was speaking - telling the woodman to spare it. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI don't understand the poem for 27th though, but am still sure it must be good. ;-)