The dead gave their last blood to birds:
cardinals, red-winged blackbirds, and the downy woodpecker,
red-capped, persistent,
Extracting food from trees in small portions
in every season. Deer browse fairways, medians, and kitchen gardens.
More real estate is parceled, so
more roads flood fields and woods.
Shores erupt in built things that have never held a seed.
And citylight falls over us like flames.
On the beach where waves arrive,
caddies worms gather forest litter into cloaks, then creep
almost invisible, into fresh water
where fish rise from the bottom and eat
what they need and when, a great lake flowing coolly over
them and under them and through.
Alison Swan
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