BANYAN TREE

That huge banyan tree keeps
everything going at a smooth
business-like pace.

Its spread of leaves
stings the air everywhere
above the graves
in the hexagons of unfocussed sun.

Its roots
pop up the graves
on the slant of the Kelsih hills
asking the lids to open
maybe for a werewolf

or for a fruitful season
filling the bamboo-baskets
asking the lids to open up
sending leaves and leaves of grass
broad and sleek and thorny and speckled
rearing out.

Sure of its great power
it moves in the dark earth to send
ripples and ripples
like a great blind earth-worm
turning the soil fertile with its dark power.

It moves in the air
like a giant octopus or a squid
thick and sinewy and lurching and long and endless


horizontal and curving
slowly curving
quietly conscious of strange power
that takes its time to curve
as if no one would disturb
nobody would dare.

A great silent tumult
in the earth and the sky.

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