Sestina for a Forgetful Grove

By: Wivylma Posted on: February 07, 2008

Dear sloping pine wood, why did you forget

That I belonged to you, and you my grove?

When I awoke from sleep and then perceived,

Your heart was bare, and you bore no imprint,

For in the passing of a little time,

You withdrew, forsook so deep a bond.

Do you recall how we once forged our bond?

How could our spirits' blending be forgot?

As I knelt we seemed to stop all time,

In endless seconds you became my grove,

And you breathed into me your own imprint

As mine in you all travelers could perceive.

Or earlier, when I your pines perceived,

Before we joined in our mutual bond,

I gasped with joy when I found no imprint,

Knew I would never this one room forget,

Knew here in the Shamtotas was my grove,

And wished it to be so throughout all time.

And afterwards, how many were the times

I might the runes on your totem perceive,

Or freeze the ground, stop fires in my grove,

Or kneel for preservation of this bond

In rituals no Druid could e'er forget,

And in your soil was fixed my knees' imprints.

And all that gone? You now have no imprint?

Did they mean naught to you, those lovely times?

In fifteen months, could you really forget,

Invite some young forestal to perceive

And join with him in some new endless bond?

Could you so quickly be another's grove?

But if you would another's be, my grove,

If your pine trees desire another's imprint,

I will surrender to your younger bond,

And sadly hope that it will outlast time,

For Nature Herself surely must perceive

Which bonds it would be better to forget.

But not this time. We'll forge anew our bond,

All others may perceive our dear imprint.

Do not forget our unity, my grove