Lavinia Kumar - The Force of Time (with "Abbey in an Oak Wood" by Caspar David Friedrich)

Time changed for the ruined abbey. I can see
past headstones at its feet, past the burned oak trees—
to the prince that was never king, to his sister given
to Strongbow. And Ireland long smothered by England
after marriage in this abbey. Oak trees were planted
to spread on this land for hundreds of years,
their heavy brown leaves to cover history every fall.

Sometimes change was fast—the fire stripped
branches of leaves, twigs, the roots could not breathe,
and I saw, in the yellow of morning sky, the moon
looked ready to slip away. But the graves were freed,
so I may read etching made loud by soot—death
of a princess as a baby, the prince her father, a blacksmith,
monks. Pillars of a town in winter.






Click here to listen to Lavinia Kumar reading "The Force of Time"

Lavinia Kumar lives in New Jersey. Her poetry has appeared in several publications, in the US and UK. She writes a blog for her brother’s seniorsmagazine.org, based in Portsmouth, NH.