Before the Forests Burn
What happened to the animals after the eviction
When man and woman, flesh and clay, were driven out from Eden,
Would within, invisible, the beasts of Paradise
Wander with a sense of vague and puzzled emptiness?
Although the winds of evening cooled them in the shade
Would they have sensed a hollowness in life and been afraid,
Uneasiness and restlessness have set the herds on edge?
How ignorant the pair of them to violate their pledge
Now whenever here and there I climb a damaged hill
The elder beech with knuckles clenched held on by strength of will,
Though every year’s erosion sweep out the soil beneath,
Hungry winter snap the limbs with blizzard-sharpened teeth
I think they have waiting with a sense that no one knows
Who has not been in Paradise and felt what Adam chose,
That all the living flesh of it awaiting our return
Desires Adam back again before the forests burn
And if the forests burned again as did the angel’s brand
Who stood before the gates of Love with fire in his hand,
The love that does not perish would cause the winds to blow
And bring the sanctifying rain again to Earth below
Pavel
April 15, 2011
