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> On 11 Nov 2015, at 21:30, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Thanks, Sheila. Poem did take a bit of wringing. Wasn't sure whether to
> make it clearer that Ralph was a dead tree.
>
> Bill
>
> On Thursday, November 12, 2015, Sheila Murphy <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> Depth of feeling here, Bill. It's a difficult realization and well wrought.
>>
>> On Wed, Nov 11, 2015 at 1:58 PM, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]
>> <javascript:;>>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Like a punch drunk boxer flailing
>>> at air, Ralph's weathered limbs stir
>>> to action when he senses challenge.
>>> Massive spine notwithstanding,
>>> each fresh battering takes its toll:
>>> supple now supplanted by brittle.
>>>
>>> Towering above his green cousins
>>> he recalls times when he too
>>> absorbed tempests with sway,
>>> rejutting his proud, malleable jaw
>>> to the gully's seasonal pummellings.
>>> Beyond sighing, Ralph has had it.
>>>
>>> Overlooking Lakeside Drive,
>>> old enough to remember
>>> when phantom tarn might
>>> have swollen into being,
>>> soon all his boughs will sink
>>> into the lakeless earth.
>>>
>>> bw
>>
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