Elephants Remember
Elephants remember
when they were small
amphibians evolving, plodding
to land on ponderous legs
how they grew and grew
developing tusks and trunks
thick skin and attitude
marching across a continent
all their own
without a predator
to challenge their size
but they now gather
around a stagnant watering hole
after a century, waiting to die,
nostalgic for their ivory days
wishing that they had evolved
to fly that they had evolved
to fly away on pterodactyl wings.
Swan's Way
After so many summers
In white-resplendent silk
like a Japanese fan unfolding its wings
after so many afternoons
admiring its own reflection
in a vernal pond
dreaming of youth, beauty
and elegance
even the swan will scatter
its feathers on the wind
even the swan will die
a lonely thing.
Neil Ellman lives and writes in New Jersey. His poems, many of which are
ekphrastic and based on works of modern art, appear in numerous print and online
journals throughout the world. The latest of his eight chapbooks, Double-Takes, is available as a free PDF
download at fowlpox.tk.
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