ages of ages

Harvey S. Mozolak

it was an enormous tree

the article read

so large

several men with linked arms

could not surround its girth

for this reason

a bore was taken

an intrusion into its ringed ages

that would announce

it predated the country

in which it now grows

to towering heights

all ancients then long buried

as roots of those now living

take the cross

any one of its branches

from some wall

corridor or chancel

and drill deep within

to its core

nails have been useful

for this task

but reading of a gospel works

the same

instead of encircling years

the unending figure of eternity

is touched by drying cellulose

stained by ruin

red and cut

postdating time

and seeding long after

all trees fall

with silent heard obeisance   

in a country as yet

while named

unwalked unpathed by foot

unscarred