Peninsula
Here the dwarf
cedars, misshapen
and ageless as questions,
thrust tenacious roots into the Niagaran rock—
strike an old coral memory, split
the shear-cleave of the dolomite face.
Once, upon time under a shallow sea,
built of brittle stars, this stone:
saucered reef and shoal, teemed
`til silty epochs glued,
and snaily ice sheets smoothed.
In our speck of human years,
now, where the scarp sticks its Silurian tongue
into the clear lake,
my hand flings full the pebbled eons,
that skip and clatter,
scatter down the cliff's sheer echo, and
sound its worn heart.
Here I plant my crippled feet,
and touch the ancient cedars.
Copyright M. Kleiza 2001
Michael Kleiza, "Peninsula",
in Words and Wonders: A Guelph Area Anthology,
Katherine L. Gordon, editor. Ontario, Canada: M&T Printing
Group, University of Guelph, 2001, 79. ISBN 0-9682733-3-5.
