Poems by Perissa Busick
Archives: by Issue | by Author Name
A Silent World
by Perissa Busick
From Canary Fall 2021
Perissa lives in a circle of trees – pine, oak, cedar, madrone and manzanita – homes to families of bluejays, robins, ravens and sparrows plus many smaller creatures.
I heard them
In my heart
last night
deep
In that timeless
land where
mind goes
when free of thought,
and untethered
to time and place,
it flows and wanders.
And I hear them still:
the howl of the last wolf,
the lone elephant’s
trumpeting calls,
and the whale’s cry
as their lonely sojourn
ends. Betrayed by
the two-legged,
they wander aimless,
no pack to guide them,
no herd to nurture them,
no pod to love and play within,
their footprints all that remains
save the ivory tusks
carved into breathless mementos,
a souvenir wolf’s head
adorning a wall,
and tales of the magical
leviathans of the deep.
Will we hear the last whale song,
the last elephant’s call and the
last wolf’s howl -- and see only
our own footprints left to mark
the earth?
© Perissa Busick