3.
It’s true that at this time of year,
it’s already been said
that it’s all downhill from here.
One needn’t hang around long to discern
the manner in which a steady inattention
to the hum can melt
into a thrumming kind of somnolence,
but we’ve drafted entire evacuation plans
for lesser emergencies than these,
and the directions still fail us.
As if just some trees could ever be enough,
when we’re left here,
among our friends, already missing them,
hoping for what we know
won’t be around for long:
flowers, or even just the smell of them.

-- Dobby Gibson
from Open Season