Excerpt from

"On a Line from Valéry (The Gulf War) "



      Tout le ciel vert se meurt
      Le dernier arbre brûle.


The whole green sky is dying. The last tree flares
With a great burst of supernatural rose
Under a canopy of poisonous airs.

Could we imagine our return to prayers
To end in time before time's final throes,
The green sky dying as the last tree flares?


Carolyn Kizer at the Academy of American Poets