The Last Bough

By Eric Heppner

Crash, falls the second to last
One last limb, one last branch
Just one arm
Holding dear to the sky
One more cut
And the tree will die

One hundred years
The tree has stood
A few more seconds
Dead rot of wood

End as beginning
Death like birth
Just one leaf
Tying life to the earth

The last bough now
Is bending down
Soon to be scraping the leafy ground