Photo:Poem - The Forest Archives

Hamlin Park photo by Vicki Westberg

The Forest Archives

Silhouetted by

an iridescent

web of stars

monastic hoods of

evergreens nod imperceptibly.

Supernatural beings

do inhabit the region

like mythological giants,

tired ancient spirits gathered

in the painful endurance of time.

Cathedral spires, heavy and hard

aspire upward like tapers

to be lit by lightning fires.

They creak like masts in the wind

from blasts that make them turn and bend,

bow and sway in a noisy dance of freedom.

The pipe organ prelude concludes

with a sepulchral silence

that dares forth

an occult moan.

Rain is due and spirits fly

among the arboreal ecclesia.

Then streams of sacred sapphires enter

and sizzle through the archives

like church whispers,

telling stories

of the past, grandpast

and great grandpast,

and how the archives

retain water

in their fibers

as I do.

--Vicki Westberg 2011