Ode to a Toothpick
O, Quercus tall thy spreading crown endowedthine oaken leaves an aesculean
tribute to thy Herculean strength
more powerful than all thy cousins
packed in arboreal throngs
thy sturdy lineage hard of heart
aspiring towards Olympian heights
ilician branches outstretched
guarding all, dark shadows
encircling compass-like
thy trunk thy fulcrum
passing through the hours
hot by day
too cool by moonlit night.
Thy brother by a different seed
holds thick its umbral shade
in layers black to barely light,
'neath Ulmus' aged foliage
sweet Acer's blood of syrup, sweet,
untapped too full to burst its mighty heart
and pour itself to trickle thickly
down thy motley bark from puncture wounds
impaled by oaken shafts as Cain
did Abel
labors of his fruit in vain.
And Ebenus stands not alone
a forest black, sinews taut,
his muscles hard as Saxony
they dauntless vigils
watchful, rare,
reaching for the thinnest air.
But, Pinus stood ubiquitous
like common folk in flocks they drove
through fields across all continents
impervious to imperialists
protruding through ice glacial snow
amidst where wild westwinds blow
through heat of equatorial sun
where others bend it stands as one.
Zeus thunderbolts thy skin hath burned
thy roots uplifted cast from earth
from oceanic floods they turned
their shameful faces once with mirth
now turned away deep floods sent forth
Poseidon's trident piercing through
to the heart of the matter.
Penates gathered in thy shapened forms
cubiles for cubiculi
and lecti for the foci flames
where populi of famous names
set standard bearers as their norms.
But what of all the shavings, chips,
the slices slashed
from pieces clashed
the chunks they clipped
who careless, too oblivious
of herbal life hacked and nipped
those pointed slivers
boxed and shipped
with flattened shapes
a single point
and others
bi-polar sharp at either end
bi - molar holes intent to mend
amidst a dental regiment
led by Colgate or Sir Pepsodent.
The Querci Knight seeks out the beast
that lurks in mouths of caves at least
amongst the stalactites and -mites
where enter meats and gnashing bites
in rhythm of digestive laws
grasping lances 'gainst the claws
that ravage savagely their prey
behind closed lips their death delay.
Enamel shields put forth their dauntless force
against the pokes and jabs of lances' probes
a ritual to cleanse recurring moss
upon the castle walls, to keep the crack
uncluttered music strings of floss
through fissures rubbed where lances lack.
Behold, the oaken, maple, elm or pine
side by side awaiting, line by line,
by hundreds ranked, together or alone
attacking plaque that clings like glue to bone.
Although thy strength lacks that of oaken tree
Thou shalt be sought and praised eternally.
Glossary for the Literati:
Quercus, Ilex, and Aesculus are Latin names for the Oak tree
Ulmus (Elm)
Acer (Maple)
Pinus (Pine)
Ebenus (Ebony tree)
Cubilis (bed)
Cubiculum (bedroom)
Penates (household gods)
lectus (couch)
focus (hearth)
Poetry by NotaDeadPoet
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Written on 2007-03-10 at 05:20
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