A Poem by Bill Reyer
A poem for Earth Day 2021
Requiem for Sylvanus
A Woodland Lullaby
The sharp saws they call
My child, my child
The tall trees they fall
My child
The scent of the spruce soon gone
My child, my child
You’ll wake to a treeless dawn
My child
A Lesson
"What will the birdies do the poor t’ings?"
Minnesota-Swede folk-song
How can one
Engender
Happiness?
How can one
Embody
Kindness?
For ages
Before time trees
Have tried to teach
Grow serenely
Grow cleanly
Grow greenly
farewell
Sylvanus is in flight
He flees the human blight
Oak Father goes in sorrow
His grove lost in the morrow
His pruning hook cannot stem
The felling of his glen
Sylvanus is in flight
Oak and ash feel the ax’s bite
Bill Reyer, 4.23.2021