Jack

Jack

By Dana Van Wie

My life is short

So I relish the invigorating rays.

They transform me,

Cool, deep green to toasty, dark orange.

Friends, family and I

Grow in peace, undisturbed.

Interrupted by brief visits.

A prowling farm cat,

Hungry, munching beetles,

Monotonously chattering crows.

 Days grow short.

Our plot is invaded.

You don’t belong.

You have no respect.

Ripping us from our umbilical cords.

Trampling our fronds.

Smashing our dead and dying.

Yet some cry, “Pick me! Pick me!”

Quiet! Do you not know your fate?

Baked and eaten. Slashed and carved.

My choices are none

I pray to quietly fade, die of old age.

Back to the earth

Then I can once again

Be born.