say we rolled you flat into a board
and imagined the resulting grain as natural
or even, insultingly, disposed of you
once your noble heart had formed a liquid stone
and let it harden; say we threw you
somewhere to rot and disappear: well now
some poet one day will appear—maybe today
who will see upon this concrete wall your grain
your life, your victory over years, the tendrils
of what waters once passed through your veins:
this poet, i say, will mourn and celebrate you then
with all the fervor humans feel at the feet of trees
or even, insultingly, disposed of you
once your noble heart had formed a liquid stone
and let it harden; say we threw you
somewhere to rot and disappear: well now
some poet one day will appear—maybe today
who will see upon this concrete wall your grain
your life, your victory over years, the tendrils
of what waters once passed through your veins:
this poet, i say, will mourn and celebrate you then
with all the fervor humans feel at the feet of trees
