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
