The Sodden Forest

The damp-dedicated humidity and
bruised-cloud breadth of sky represent
the stubborn remnants of days
and nights of unrelenting rain.
The forest has responded with
whatever resistance it can manage
once absorption levels are reached;
its vast floor resembling a swamp,
tree roots drowning and bright
new leafage hastened. The graceful
fronds of Solomon's seal and the
plenitude of ferns revel in their
shaded, water-logged preference.

Crows croak from their bare
spire perches atop storm-shattered
trees. Moss lavishly furs the downed
trunks of generations of expired
trees in a climax forest. Hawks circle
the rain-sodden air, shrieking their
territorial imperative. A green
tumble of bedding grasses, cow vetch,
violets and lilies under blooming
Hawthorns crowd the ad hoc wetland.

The compost-mass of years' layers of pine
needles gleam rusted orange in the
sodden landscape. Dogwood are setting
their spring floral bouquets, hazelnuts
their fruit, honeysuckle their delicate,
fragrant blooms. Pests of the woodlands
pursue their life goal of species survival,
seeking the blood of hosts in the endless
cycle of nature's complacent renewal.