One of the Few

Under an American chestnut

One of the few

Looking up

Thunder shaking its copper sheets

Deep in the haze

Mumbling oaths

I want to say something

Beautiful

To bring you back here again

The years have passed through my hands

Like rosary beads

They were not wasted

They were not wasted

Still

Nothing is new

And what

Is more beautiful than that?

–with two lines by Mary Ruefle.