New Jerusalem, Vermont (Haibun) Poem by C.D. Sinex

Cutting through dense woods
well past the logging road's end—
Abandoned homesteads

The deer trail brushes against a nameless pond, where hardwoods suddenly change to evergreens; a sign that this was once cleared land. Walking along a crumbling knee-wall, I stop to do the builders a favor and fill a small gap.

Stacking fallen stones
I recite The Mending Wall—
Both neighbors long-gone.

There are few hints that this was once someone's home. Two rows of thick-trunked apple trees, unpicked asparagus topped with delicate summer flowers and a small unvisited grave yard. The few crude markers that can still be read are mostly infants and young children. Leaving some wildflowers and a promise to come back, I turn for home.

New Jerusalem—
Cellar holes and apple trees
flank forsaken graves

© C.D Sinex