"Balance" By Todd Benson
Three metal stands, a wooden limb in each.
The wood, weathered and broken,
The metal, dull and lifeless.
There was a time when each limb coexisted,
Bound together by a sturdy base, rooted firmly in place.
Now each limb rests upon its own base,
Balancing atop a fixed, metal point.
The suspended logs once a part of nature,
The steel bases forged by humankind.
The scale can be tipped so easily, giving way to
The Greatest of All Calamities.
If the metal pole were to fracture,
The log would fall to floor.
If humanity were to step out of place,
Nature would come tumbling down.
But for now each wooden limb floats steadily in place,
Supported by an unfaltering, unyielding, unimaginably indefatigable,
Metal stand.