Took a walk out past
the soon to be developed
stretch of mature woods
that since colonial days
or even the last ice age
was as it is now
but now is locust time
and clear-cutting its fate
Soon luxury houses
will squat where pitch pines
and oaks skyward reach
a mere mile from the sea
O citizens of the biosphere
who hear these trees breathing
listen to the silent plea
and honor deeply what’s still here.
Jeffrey Agnoli is an educator and poet who lives in Edgartown.