Larry D. Thomas 222

Larry D. Thomas    

Chinese Tallow

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We used your leaves to treat boils.

To wax the wicks of candles,

we used your vanishing seeds.

Your foliage thinned with each

cruel turning of the seasons.

For years, we watched your dying,

your branches smarting

with the stinging cuts of cardinals.

The jays beguiled you,

seducing with their blue.

To white you succumbed, the white

larvae of long-horned beetles: fat,

writhing, hollowing out your heart.