Until Then, Don’t Forget

Of course, there’s no need

For the world to end,

No need to pretend

A poem won’t be read.

The dragon of days

Might uncoil quickly

Or slowly, smoothly,

So that life goes on

In its bright green scales,

And even humans

Flourish in the nest

Without soiling it

Overmuch. The woods,

The oceans, the plains

Of farms and grasses

Carry on growing.

No one has to read

These or any lines

To know that life grows

As lives go. No one

Has to be possessed

By another set

Of phrases to guess

Sun rises. Sun sets.

Who do we address

Other than readers,

Other than ourselves?

For now, then, nothing.