As a whirlwind
Swoops on an oak
Love shakes my heart
--Sappho
Rattling my trunk
Bough bending
One breaks
But old roots
Hold me fast
Securing
Against the wind
That would tear
me out of the ground
The whirlwind
Leaves in its wake
Destruction
Yet I stand firm
Amid fallen
Leaves and branches
The sun and rain
Will come again
And new buds will form
Bringing a springtime
Of loveliness
A gentler love.
--Debra Parmley
Published in Bellowing Ark July 1996
