Otherwise Unharmed (Poetry)

Broken sunlight found the old tree
after the bully winds had done with it —
only a few feet of trunk left standing
raw and jagged, fallen branches shattered
                                all around
evidence of the storm’s soon-passing fury
how it lashed and ripped those limbs apart
tore out its weeping willow heart.

The scene is savage in its elemental contrast —
the waters of the pond yawn unaffected —
                                brown and calm
the other trees lean, dazed perhaps, but otherwise
                                unharmed
and everything is still — unruffled now
as are the ducks that crowd and clamour
for bread. They have forgotten the wild weather
and do not think to mourn the freshly-dead.