Joseph Tirella: Bury It in the Earth

Buried

I don’t have the heart
to cut down the cedar
tree in  my yard, a pit
stop for the furred
creatures scampering
across power lines,
a respite for cardinals
and sparrows and
robins with slithering
worms in clenched beaks,
skittering across its
tangled roots. Old, faltering,
a grand dame with dead
leaves flittering, parched
bark immune to rain and
hose water. Like a nurturing
mother, it gives all for its
prodigal offspring.
Like my mother
it is bent with time
and age. Like her, the
cedar wages a daily battle
against the shadow.
Like her, I will have
to bury it in the earth
where robins tread. 

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Joseph Tirella the author of The New York Times Best Seller, Tomorrow-Land: The 1964-65 World's Fair and the Transformation of America (Lyon's Press; 2014). A graduate of CCNY's MFA program, his nonfiction has been published in Slate, Rolling Stone, Esquire, and Vibe, among other places. His poetry and fiction been published in Newtown Literary and Promethean.