“A Poem for a Classmate” (Abridged)
(She wanted a poem about the pines…)
From the book, In the Valley of Glow Trees, (c) 2012
Kerri Nicole McCaffrey
Deep, deep in the pine stands
after I leave the dirt path,
the pressed-down brown grass
and step past
where the fresh red barn
used to be, but is now just
a time machine—
just beyond the daffodils
blossoming
their brightest yellow blood—
I often plunge
onto the orange carpet
of needles that lay together
and soften the blow to the feet.
Look at the pillars of the cathedral!
The sun comes through like a fresco
breaking into blue and bright—
and somewhere up there like a statue,
the owl—
and even he consumes this sacred silence.
Here, I am often forced to sit
like something ravaged or like prey
slain as if nearly soul.
And if a fox on its fur-bound
silent padded paw came
I would say that would be beatific—
this emerald space draped
in its cool quality
would swallow me—
whole.