Hannah Kraybill-Greggo
Mid day,
in the now reclaimed field,
a newcomer has arrived.
The cardinal, with aching wings
from the far flight away from its nest,
is looking for sustenance.
It settles swiftly
on the dilapidated fence.
The fractured trees,
are decomposing,
returning to the earth.
Below him, little ants
quickly form convoluted colonies.
Maneuvering without questioning,
along a graying bone.
They like the coolness of the soil here.
Mid day, and the thin vines of ivy
wrap the crumbling
remains of the bell tower
forming the outline of a phantom shelter
even the cardinal can sense.
Among the bricks
that have eroded with time
a small deer fawn huddles,
recently born,
but whose ancestors
settled this land
years before.
He bows his head
to the cardinal on the fence,
“Welcome.”
It blinks its thanks.
With new sage weariness,
the fawn lays down on the vine covered words:
Cassandra Taylor,
2040-2101,
You will be missed.
Hannah Kraybill-Greggo attends the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts in Bethlehem, where she is a Sophomore Literary Artist. She enjoys writing poetry and finding inspiration in every book she reads.
In her writing, Hannah loves to explore ideas about nature and the constant unknown, just as she did in her poem, “The Earth Will Not Miss Us.” The piece delves into the relief the earth might feel without the constant, and often negative, alternations that we as humans bring to it. As they read her work, she hopes to allow others to think on these important topics and question their own impact on life around them.
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