In the Shadow of Eternity
Their twigs shall be broken off untimely…
Wisdom 4:5
Time, she said, is more accordion
Than tree. Its bellows expand,
Compress, according to whimsical
Tripping, tapping squeezebox
Rhythms. Riffs, played well
Or poorly. Who’s to say?
Then closing up. Resuming
A black box aura of mystery.
Unlike your average tree, with
Its seasonal moods, its frequent
Periods of death-like pause. How,
When you cut it down, there
On its trunk, easy to see,
It was marking time all the while,
The way we like, linear,
In a roundabout kind of way.
Maryanne Hannan has published poetry in both All Shall Be Well: A poetry anthology for Julian of Norwich and Thin Places & Sacred Spaces. A resident of upstate New York, USA, she is the author of Rocking Like it’s all Intermezzo: 21st Century Responsorials.
Amethyst Review 