The Stream No Longer Feeds the Pool

​The stream no longer feeds the pool
The rain does not fall the lightning
Has ceased, the whole forest is black,
The land is dim, the birds don’t sing

At dawn, the rats overrun the field,
The beavers are confused, they do not
Build, eggs do not hatch, vines
Pull down trees, the mushrooms rot,

Lead leaches into the water, animals
Stagger, a man comes along, understands
Nothing, stamps his feet, waves 
His spear, curses, waves his hands,

Lives on mushrooms, rips bark
From the trees, throws it to
The ground, a wildcat snarls,
Lopes into the woods, through

The mud, but those who were driven away
Will return, the hostile tribes decay,
Then, in the light of a returning sun
I shall speak and tell the night and the day.