With or Without

The Philosopher in Florida
C. Dale Young


Midsummer lies on this town
like a plague: locusts now replaced
by humidity, the bloodied Nile

now an algae-covered rivulet
struggling to find its terminus.
Our choice is a simple one:

to leave or to remain, to render
the Spanish moss a memory
or to pull it from trees, repeatedly.

And this must be what the young
philosopher felt, the pull of a dialectic so basic
the mind refuses, normally,

to take much notice of it.
Outside, beyond a palm-tree fence,
a flock of ibis mounts the air,

our concerns ignored
by their quick white wings.
Feathered flashes reflected in water,

the bending necks of the cattails:
the landscape feels nothing---
it repeats itself with or without us.

§

If you like the poem -- or if you like the idea of a full-time doctor who is also a poet and the editor of a respected literary journal, then you might want to check C Dale Young's blog, Avoiding the Muse (said avoidance being a skill Dr Young appears to have missed mastering.