earth note 6

herr's island pittsburgh

ghosts of the packinghouse
slaughtered carcasses
hoofs tongues tails
three decades since the last killing
a march wind shrouds
a long empty moan
beginnings of daffodils spring from blood-steeped earth
austrian pine listens to the river
iced-out
whistling
the dark days gone

--- e b bortz

(published in Lilliput Review, #82, 1996)