Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DEAD FOREST, by MAIDI PAYNE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DEAD FOREST, by                    
First Line: From the living slopes we went
Last Line: And wearing birds that chipper in their sleep.
Subject(s): Decay; Forests; Rot; Decadence; Woods


From the living slopes we went.
The birds were whispering as we descended.
Softer came the sounds and muting fast
As we neared the bottoms.

There, was heard an ancient stillness
Save at times the cold, uneasy laughter of the wind
Warning us that we were entering the greenless wood,
The grave-yard of the oaks,
Some still rigid, standing
With reaching, ominous, skeleton arms.
No leaf, no twig, no verdancy as far as sight could stretch,
Just the look of old decay.

And one could paint-up such a scene
As this beneath a moon,
A round moon
Pouring melted light
And washing these near-white bones in silver.
Somehow I think their shadows sprawled on each and on the ground
Would be ghosts,
Spirits formed as these were formed
Before the years of standing waters --
They would be darkly green with little leaves
And wearing birds that chipper in their sleep.





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