Waiting for Redwoods

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I sat with a grove of redwoods, ancient creatures
who never spoke at all. I waited for their voices,

 

heard only silence. They stopped talking centuries
ago, saw no more need having spoken a few short

 

phrases in their youth. Now with combing branches
raised above the fog too high to see, they lost

 

their tongues, stood quietly observing the warblers
flitting by while I sat on a rotten log, kicked a root.

 

I waited in vain, the giants long past the urge
to talk about my mere half century among them.

 

Emily Strauss is a retired English teacher with a long publishing history in numerous venues around the world. Nowadays, she is found in Oregon, USA, talking to her dog.

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