Two old poplars
stand 70 feet tall
a foot for each year.
One leans east
over the rectory
lower branches
battered and bare.
Leafy tops still
stretch to the sky.
Chain saws bark!
Source: Frank Obrigewitsch, SJ
In three hours
branches stripped
two massive trunks
in succession
strike the ground
shake the building
lie helpless horizontal
suffer dismemberment
crying gallons of tears.