Tuesday, July 30, 2013

A Discovery

photo: ralph murre


A Discovery
by Stephen Anderson
           
Last spring, the old bay window over the back deck was
Done in by ripsaw, crowbar and sledgehammer—
Smashed into a pile of scattered debris on the deck.
Among the leftovers, in the middle of a boxed-in section,
A hornets’ nest rose up, a Taj Mahal dome in miniature, some ten
Inches in diameter, a delicate looking carp scale pattern of maple
Seed and other unknown matter, home, the carpenter said,
To scores of yellow jackets, many of which terrorized us in
Seasons past while we entertained on the deck.

When the nest was torn open, its interior was empty like
Some lost, ancient civilization once sheltered so well by its
intricate design. Now gone forever from our property, a sacrifice
To our sliding deck door, a weatherproof invention—
Man-made technology of high order, lacking, though, the
Miracle that preceded it in that spot.


~ first published on Your Daily Poem