While hiking a ridgeline I could espy,
A downed Ponderosa lying in State.
Writhing, arthritic, thrusting toward sky,
Its gesticulant limbs mocked at the Fates.
Having once reigned over forested place,
-Raging fires, tempests, winter gales withstood-
Mere termites will, his memory erase.
Princely pines turned to husks of rotting wood,
Is a thought unsettling to mortal hearts;
Hourglasses emptying of sand and pride.
I asked that sage, his wisdom to impart,
The fallen snag answered, on the wind decried,
"I was not - I was - I'm not - I don't care",
At once loosing the bonds.... hope and despair.
